Make The Heart Bigger
by DeliriousMess
Summary: A collection of drabbles, ficlets, and just prompts answered from over on my tumblr page. I figured I'd make each new prompt or piece it's own chapter so they are very disjointed and go from oldest to most recent. Happy reading!
1. Flame

It was just something she had been thinking about for a very long time.

Fuu noticed that there was no real written account of any of the many legends that Cephiro had.

She understood why the Magic Knights legend had never been written; it had been more or less drilled into their brains that only a select few even knew the legend existed, but that didn't account for other legends.

She had taken her quandary to the Guru.

"You bring up a valid point, Fuu," he had nodded solemnly.

"Would…would you or anyone be offended if I began writing them down?" she asked nervously.

He had smiled at her, "That would take a considerable amount of time,"

Fuu smiled back, "I think I could handle it."

So she set out, with Guru Clef's blessing, to write the legends.

And she started with the one she knew personally and intimately; The Legend of the Magic Knights.

But she put her own spin on this one.

She wrote about the three knights that changed everything.

She split it into three books; "The Knight of Tides", "The Knight of Winds", and, her personal favorite, "The Knight of Flames".

Centuries in the future, the people of Cephiro still read and take comfort in the stories Fuu Hououji transcribed for her people.


	2. Transformation

**A/N:** Weird AU-esque idea I had a long time ago that I had finally written down. Follows the idea that the Mashin are just the repurposed souls of previous Magic Knights because Cephiro must always have its protectors.

Like most things, it started slowly.

Fuu had wondered about it for some time, as she had for most aspects of Cephiran culture.

In fact, in her later years, she was revered as one of the most knowledgable people on Cephiro, having written many books on the policies and history of her adopted land, along with having transcribed many of the legends of the land.

Including the legend she lived.

Anyway.

She had wondered about it for some time and finally took her quandary, as she usually did, to her mentor, Guru Clef.

"Guru? What do Cephirans believe happens to them after they die?"

He looked at her with confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Well," Fuu paused, carefully thinking over her question, "on Earth, many cultures believe in an afterlife and the concept that each body contains a "soul". This "soul" is a similar to how you view the strength of heart here, as it is one of the most powerful forces on the planet,"

The Guru nodded, absorbing this new information and encouraging her to continue.

"So I was wondering; what do Cephirans believe?"

The Guru paused, glancing around the garden they occupied. Fuu had grown accustomed to his method of answering, usually with metaphors or slight misdirection, as most wise figures do.

"The best way I can think to explain it, my dear friend, is to say we return to the land." The Guru finally answered, gazing at the sky.

"But Clef, I've never seen a funeral here. What do you do with your dead?" She asked. She and her friends had spent many centuries here. Their families on earth had long since passed, their grandchildren had grandchildren, it is the way it goes. But never, in all her time here, had she seen a Cephiran funeral or even a Cephiran death.

"When our Princess died, do you remember what happened? That bright brilliant light that flashed around her?" he asked.

She nodded. Centuries later and it was still difficult to discuss the circumstances of her and her friends arrival to this land.

"What you were seeing, was her Will becoming eternally apart of Cephiro. Even as the Pillar, with her Will already so entwined with this country, she, like every creature here, returned to it. Our bodies disappear but our Will remains."

Fuu let the information settle in her mind.

"And the Magic Knights? What of them?"

The Guru chuckled quietly, "Honestly, I do not know. Those stories, if there were any, are lost to us. I suppose only the Knights know."

They did not discuss it again.

Soon, Fuu started to notice feathers everywhere she went.

Usually trailing after her.

One morning, she awoke to find, not one pair, but _two_ pairs of oddly familiar green wings jutting from her back.

In a panic, she rushed from her room to find Hikaru and Umi, hoping that maybe she wasn't alone in her transformation.

She wasn't.

From Umi's shoulders jutted a pair of large, leathery wings, simliar to those of a bat's.

And Hikaru…well Hikaru had a tail.

A bright red, busy tail.

From there, they rushed to find Guru Clef.

He examined their new appendages as they stretched and experimented with them before finally speaking.

"Fascinating."

"Don't just say 'fascinating,' you ancient midget! What's happened to us?" Umi yelled at him, having grown beyond tired of his avoidance of their questions.

Hikaru, being Hikaru, seemed unbothered by her new growth, and had fun running in circles, trying to catch it.

Fuu took to stretching her wings out and wrapping them around her so that she may examine their feathers more carefully.

"Well to be perfectly frank, you boisterous woman, I don't know what's happened to you." The Guru yelled back.

They continued their bickering for quite some time before Fuu finally spoke, loudly and clearly, "I have a theory."

Both of them paused their arguments and Hikaru looked up from her tail.

"We're becoming the Mashin."

"What?" Umi laughed, not because she thought her friend's theory was improbable, but because something about the idea frightened her.

"The Guru and I have discussed Cephiran deaths as of late, and we realized that there was no tale or any sort of account as to what became of the Magic Knights, those saviors from another world, upon their deaths. Granted, there was very little known of the Knights until we came, but the idea of each group of Knights becoming the next Mashins seems fairly probable." Fuu rationalized, simultaneously accustoming herself to the new muscle groups in her wings.

"But we abolished the Pillar System!" Umi retorted, in a bit of a panic, "And the Mashins left with Mokona; we have no need for new ones!"

"I don't think we'll act like that. I think we are to defend this land and those who love it as we did in these new forms. We are not of Cephiro, Umi, you know that. To expect to die as a Cephiran is…well I hate to seem cruel, but it's foolish at best." Fuu stated, almost disturbingly calm.

"To exist for forever? _That's_ our fate? How can you be so calm about this?" Umi yelled, well beyond hysterical.

"Well the fact that we've even begun these transformations means that–"

"We're dying." Hikaru said suddenly, having been silent through out this discussion.

Fuu sighed sadly, "I'm afraid so."

Umi, from the shock of this, collapsed into a chair and did not move for some time.

Hikaru and Fuu left her there, not knowing what to say or do to ease her mind to the idea.

None of them knew how long they had.

But they made of the most of it.

Fuu looked at it as sort of the next step in her afterlife.

Cerphiro, she often thought, was very similar to the Christian idea of Heaven; every day was perfect, you were surrounded by people who loved you, you got to live a life of happiness, safety, and peace. So what comes after that?

Admittedly, she never thought her After-Afterlife would be the rest of eternity as a giant, green, four-winged bird, but she doubted very much that anyone could accurately guess what the After-Afterlife had in store.

As it turned out, they had two more years before the transformation was complete.

And to this day, the Mashin of Cephiro continue to guard their beloved home.


	3. Order

She was pretty sure they had some form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

It's not too surprising, given what they had been through.

Taken to a different world.

Being told at every turn they were going to save the world.

Be heroes.

Only to find out that they had to kill who they thought they needed to save because she had been a human.

Yes.

She was certain they had a form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

They were trapped for a _year_ , unable to tell anyone why they were sad, why they had nightmares, why they weren't eating, why they cried when no one was around.

She wanted to help her two new friends whom she shared these memories with, but they were so divided in their lives.

They were trapped and alone.

For a year.

She should have been angry. She should have raged against what had happened to her and her friends, and raged against what they had to do but of course she wouldn't.

Because no one knew.

Not completely.

No one here or there.

And blaming anyone else wouldn't solve anything.

So she committed herself to order.

And then the year was up.

And they were right back where they started.

Trying to fix what they broke.


	4. Bodies

**A/N:** A lyrical Fuu/Ferio piece. I think one of the first for them specifically that I ever posted.

 _I like my body when it is with your body,_

It's the only line from that poem she remembers

And she only remembers it when she is lying next to him.

She watches his chest rise and fall

She thinks of the scars that mar his body; the ones that only she gets to see.

She has traced those scars, has learned their stories, has mapped him out.

She thinks of his voice,

His skin,

His eyes,

His smile;

She thinks of all these parts of him that she keeps trying to memorize but never can.

Not perfectly.

She thinks about how the parts of their bodies match and fit together perfectly.

She thinks about how poets always talk about knowing their lover's bodies.

She never liked poetry,

But lying next to him,

She thinks she could go home and steal those books from her sister

And read them

And understand them like her sister always seemed to.

She thinks about how he looks at her

And how it makes her feel.

She thinks about what he claims to see in her and what she's scared he sees in her.

She thinks that, with him, she could be who she's always known she was.

She thinks about showing him her home.

She thinks about her body next to his, and how balanced that makes her feel.

He wakes up slowly, and she smiles, she waits.

She thinks about all the things she could say to him when he sees her.

She thinks she could tell him all the things she's been thinking.

Amber eyes meet green

And whatever she had been planning to say, whatever she had wanted to say,

All those would-be words died on her tongue as he smiled sleepily at her.

"I like my body when it is with your body," she says.

And he kisses her.


	5. I Think We're Haunted

_You wear the moon like a halo_

Fuu has talked about how some people on earth believe in things called 'ghosts'. When he had asked about these things, the best and fastest explanation she could give was that it was like those who had loved them could still feel the presence of a person who had died.

He wanted to ask if she thought there could be ghosts in Cephiro.

But he kept it to himself.

He knew that if he asked, she'd only become sad again.

He had thought to ask Guru Clef about the concept, but…well to be honest, the Mage had a tendency to drag subjects out and Ferio just could not be bothered to spend the amount of time and effort that the subject would undoubtedly take.

So he kept it to himself.

On the rare occasions when he was alone, he would wonder the castle, somehow always ending up near the portrait of his sister that was hung.

He'd stare up at it and be flooded by dream-memories; memories that he wasn't sure were true or not, memories that he might have fabricated for himself, all of them of his sister.

If there was such a thing as ghosts in Cephiro, this was where he truly felt one.

When he would approach the painting, it almost seemed as if Emeraude's painted face grew softer, as if her eyes were glowing with recognition of her younger brother.

He could swear he could feel her next to him, smiling at him.

He would touch the ring in his ear in those moments.

He would swear that he could hear her voice in those moments.

And he would smile, and talk to her.

If there were ghosts in Cephiro, he didn't mind.


	6. Into the Night

They weren't celebrating anything specific, but when all the delegates got together, a part of some sort was bound to ensue. Mostly because Caldina wouldn't hear of there not being alcohol involved eventually, but also because they had become so accustomed to and fond of each other that shortly after any official business was taken care of, all that was left was celebrating.

It had been Fuu's idea to open up the "after party" to the people of New Cephiro as well, to allow for better rapport between the people and the officials.

As the central square of the town outside the castle filled with people, a band began to gather and set up in a far corner of the square. A dance floor was being cleared, tables and chairs forming a makeshift circle, and the people were mingling and talking with each other and the delegates.

As Lady Aska was speaking to Fuu animatedly about…to be honest, Fuu had stopped paying attention to the specifics of what her small friend was talking about. She nodded and smiled at her when it was necessary but she was scanning the crowd for a familiar crop of green hair. She saw Hikaru playing with some of the children, laughing and smiling widely, as Lantis stood just far enough way that he wasn't in their way, but close enough that Hikaru could always find him if she need him. When Fuu caught her eye, Hikaru waved excitedly and Fuu smiled back as her gaze wondered again. Umi was talking animatedly with the Chizetain twins, as Ascot stood next to her, smiling nervously. She nodded to Ascot who returned the gesture with a small wave.

Finally, she found him, sitting at a table that had ben set up in a corner of the square, just enough out of the way that he could watch everything happening.

She smiled when she saw him, and carefully excused herself from her friend.

As she approached, he held up his glass of wine, toasting her, "My fair knight,"

She smiled and mocked a curtsey, "My prince."

He laughed at that, and gestured to the chair next to him for her to sit.

She shook her head as she heard the band begin a song, "No time for that, we're going to dance. It's a party, after all."

She grabbed his hand, instinctively entwining their fingers, and led him to the empty dance floor.

"You know I'm no good at dancing!" He tried to protest.

She mock glared at him over her shoulder, "I've seen you street preform, you liar."

He shook his head, smirking, "I was hoping you'd forgotten about that."

They reached the middle of the dance floor and she turned to face him, "Of course I haven't. Now stop stalling. Dance with me."

The band, noticing the couple, began playing something up beat, Ferio, smiling as he recognized the song, quickly took the lead and began to waltz her around the floor.

When people began to notice them, many of them started clapping in time with the music and cheering the couple on.

Fuu smiled and laughed as he spun her around and lifted her up.

Quickly, other couples began to join them, and soon the square was flooded with dancers.

As the party dissolved into dancing chaos, Ferio led Fuu away. She smiled at him once they were alone, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him as the music wafted around them.


	7. Shake Your Trees

She was wondering through the gardens, telling herself that she was just looking for a shady tree to sit under and finish reading her book, but if you asked any of the other inhabitants of the castle (particularly one blue-haired girl who loved to make her blush), you'd know that she might've had ulterior-green-haired-boy motives to be there.

She was wearing a pair of light green leggings, a denim skirt, and a green plaid button down shirt.

The aforementioned blue-haired girl might have been involved in her outfit planning for the day.

Before long, she heard a familiar tune being whistled from a tree not too far away from her.

She smiled and quickly closed the distance between herself and the whistling tree until she stood underneath it's large and far-reaching branches.

She looked up into the tree, shielding her eyes from the perfect spring sun that was ever present, and looked for a familiar "traveling swordsman."

She smiled when she spotted him and called up, "I see Lantis is having a negative effect on you. You know, a _normal_ prince wouldn't be caught dead snoozing away a perfectly good afternoon in a tree."

She heard a chuckle, "If I were a 'normal' prince, I wouldn't have a Magic Knight condescending me for how I choose to spend my afternoons."

"Oh I don't know about that, someone has to be your baby sitter. Clef can only do so much," she commented, sitting at the base of the tree and opening her book.

She heard the rustling of leaves as he made his own come back, "Baby sitter? I can tell you right now, I have no need of someone who sits on babies. And to my knowledge, the Guru has never sat on any babies either. Your Earth must be a terrifying place if you have such an occupation available."

She sighed but chuckled despite herself, "It's not…oh never mind."

Soon, the rustling stopped and she saw slight movement out of the corner of her eye. She looked to her left, and saw him hanging upside-down from one of the branches.

She had forgotten that "traveling swordsman" and "street performer" went hand-in-hand when it came to him.

He had his arms crossed over his chest and he was studying her.

She turned back to her book, pretending she didn't notice him for a few minutes, and acted as if her book was thoroughly enthralling, before he finally made a comment.

"You've read that book before,"

She blushed slightly, unaware that he had noticed it, "It's an old favorite."

"I'm sure it's riveting. You know, you'd get more light from up here. Why don't you come on up?"

"I-I'm perfectly fine here." She stammered in a sudden panic. She closed the book and held it close to her chest as if it were a shield.

"C'mon, at least compare it." He smiled, grabbing the branch and swinging himself up so he sat upright on the branch. He readjusted himself and was soon straddling it. He held a hand out for her to take.

She shook her head, blushing, "W-well it's just that I…I've never climbed a…a tree before."

He looked at her incredulously, "Oh come on."

She smiled nervously at him.

"What, like ever?"

"That would be what "I've never climbed a tree before" would imply," she smirked.

"Well, Ms. Fuu, that is a travesty and I intend to teach you how to do it." He smiled back, holding his hand out further.

"Ferio, I don't–"

"Do you trust me?" he asked, staring into her eyes.

She let out a deep breath through her nose, and handed the book to him.

At his confused look she said, "I imagine I'll need both my hands for this, right?"

He smiled and set the book behind him so he could use of his hands to offer additional support.

Grabbing his hand, and another low-hanging branch, she managed to wiggle her way on to the same branch he was on. It involved a lot of body wiggling and she was immediately embarrassed.

"I imagine I'll become more graceful with practice," She smiled, blushing deeply as she sat across from him on the branch.

He kissed her lips lightly, "No judgment here, love. Now c'mon, there's a whole tree to explore."

Nowadays, when anyone's looking for the pair, they have to resort to looking in the trees to find them.


	8. I Could Be Yours

**A/N:** Speculation on Cephiran marriages

When Ferio first asked her about what "marry" meant, she'd be lying if she didn't admit that an initial panic overtook her. When he explained how Hikaru had told Lantis that that was how you expressed the ultimate form of love in their world, she relaxed, and offered to bring some books to explain some of the finer points of it, and the cultural significance. He agreed, and his education began.

One day, when they were in the garden reading, his head was in her lap and she was running her hand absently through his hair. He closed the book she had given him and smiled, "I figured it out."

She smiled down at him and set her book to the side, "Oh you have? And what have you figured out?"

"This marriage thing!" he smiled, sitting up, "See, I had been thinking it was something weird or dangerous but it's just like how people become Bound here."

Her brow furrowed in confusion, "'Bound'? What does that mean?"

He smiled at her, a slight blush creeping over his face, "In Cephiro, when two people decide that they wish to spend the rest of their existences together, they merge their Wills together, becoming a singular, more powerful Will. They become Bound to one another; what one feels, the other feels, and they enter into a partnership that spans the rest of their lives."

Through his description, their hands had sought each other out and were now entwined on the grass next to them. His thumb was stroking hers, and his gaze had fallen to their conjoined hands as he spoke.

He smirked and shrugged, "It's a very complex and powerful spell that only someone like Guru Clef could preform, and only a select few actual go through with it since it's permanent. Most people just enter into something like what your book describes as a…" he opened the book again, scanning the pages before continuing, "…a 'domestic partnership'."

There's a pause as they continue to avoid each other's gaze, but keep their hands conjoined, before Fuu finds her voice, "Does…does becoming 'Bound' hurt? What does it…?"

Ferio shrugged, "I'm really not sure, the last people who I know were Bound were my parents but most of what I know about that is from the Guru who preformed the spell. Since then, no one has mentioned any other ceremonies."

Fuu pulled her legs up to her chest, tugging the hem of her dress down over her ankles, and wrapped her arms around them, "So…where does that put us?"

Ferio leaned forward slightly and rested his forehead against hers, "Well. I think that you and I are bound even without the spell and the ceremony. But. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I'll do whatever I can to make that happen."

She smiled at him and kissed his lips lightly, "I want that too."


	9. All This, And Heaven Too

**A/N:** So a couple of years ago I was thinking about how upset I had been when I first finished watching the anime straight through (and I mean _straight_ _through_ , I holed up in my mom's basement for the whole summer and that was literally all I did). Having come from the manga where they could go back at the end, I was pretty much in tears when they ended it with just them smiling and saying they want to see the new Cephiro. And I tried to figure out what would've made it "okay" in my mind. And this is the product of that.

They had led full lives. They had traveled the world together, they had married, they had had their own children, they had followed their dreams.

Yes, they had led very full lives.

Fuu lay on her hospital bed–she shouldn't kid herself, this was her death bed, now an old woman, with the trinkets of her life surrounding her. She shared her room with Hikaru and Umi, as they had requested, and was watching them sleep quietly next to her.

She remembered how she had done this when they had gone to Cephiro, all those years ago. She wondered about that beautiful country and the people there who had welcomed her and her two dear friends so warmly. She hoped all was well. She thought of the green-haired prince who lived there. She still wore that old gold band. It was the only jewelry she had refused to take off when she had been admitted into the hospital.

She sighed, suddenly feeling very tired.

Hikaru shifted in her bed and looked at Fuu tiredly. She smiled, "Hey Fuu?"

She smiled at her, her own eyelids growing heavy, "Yes?"

The constant beep of their heart monitors seemed to be slowing.

Fuu wondered, distantly, if it was just because they were all so tired.

"I think I'd really like to go back to Cephiro," Hikaru yawned, smiling gently as her eyes slid close.

"Me too." Fuu answered, as three high pitched tones echoed around her.

* * *

The bed beneath her suddenly felt much more plush than it had in her time at the hospital. The blankets covering her seemed warmer, softer even. She opened her eyes tiredly and saw she had cocooned herself entirely in a white comforter. Sun poured in from some unseen source, illuminating her self-made cocoon.

She heard birds singing; they didn't sound like any bird she was familiar with, yet something about their song pulled at something in her heart and from her memory.

Confused, she began to dig herself out of the blankets and was momentarily blinded; the sun was much brighter than it had seemed under the covers.

She was in a large, ornate room, done in warm colors. She sat up, a slight panic setting in as she recognized that she was on a large bed in the center of the room. She looked to her right, where the sun was coming from, and saw a familiar figure sitting on the window seat.

She gasped, tears beginning to well in her eyes.

He looked up at her, the same amber eyes, the same mess of green hair, the same golden hoop in his ear that matched the one on her finger. He hadn't aged at all.

"…Ferio?" she managed to say, though the word got caught on the lump that had formed in her throat.

He smiled at her, a kind of tired sadness and elation mixing in his eyes, he cleared his throat gently and said her name back.

"Fuu."

She clawed the blankets off her body and ran to him. He stood and caught her.

She sobbed into his chest, "I'm here. I'm here."

He held her tightly, and when her legs couldn't hold her anymore, he let them fall to the floor, holding her in his lap, never letting her go, "You're here. You're here."

She pulled away and held his face, his own tears dampening his cheeks, "You haven't changed at all."

He touched her hands and leaned into her touch, "I have missed you so much."

She smiled, tears still falling, "I'm sorry. You must be disappointed that I grew so old."

He looked at her with bewilderment, "Fuu, you haven't aged at all. You're beautiful."

She laughed gently, "Ferio–"

He stood, carrying her bridal style to the mirror in the corner of his room, and placed her in front of it. She gasped when she saw the girl looking back at her.

He was right. She hadn't aged at all.

But how could that be? She touched her face gently, tracing where world worn wrinkles once were.

She had been an old woman, dying in her–

Dying.

She had died.

She had wished so hard to go back to Cephiro, and it took the last of her Magic Knight's will to get here there.

She had died.

She had gone to her Heaven.

But if she was here, where were–?

She turned to Ferio, "I have to find Hikaru and Umi."

He looked confused, "But–"

"I'll be back, but I have to find them. I can't be here if they aren't here." She said, rushing passed Ferio, out the door, and into the hall.

"Hikaru?! Umi!" She yelled as she ran through the halls of the great palace.

She was amazed that she remembered as much of the layout as she did. She was just glad it hadn't changed either.

"Fuu?! Umi!" She heard a familiar voice yell from the direction of the garden.

"Hikaru!" She screamed back.

"Fuu?! Hikaru!" Another voice yelled.

"Umi!" She cried back.

She burst into the garden, frantic and out of breath, and saw her two best friends on two opposite sides of the garden. They saw each other, and ran as quickly as they could to the center. Once there, they embraced similarly to how they had after their first trip to Cephiro.

They cried and clung to each other, but rather than the desperation of guilt weighing them down, there was nothing but pure, unaltered joy.

They were there.

They had made it to Cephiro.

They had made it to Heaven.

They were _home_.


	10. A Pirate's Life For Me

**A/N:** Very brief Pirate!AU for my Ship Mate, Suzanami

She wasn't sure what in her life had led her to running with pirates, but that didn't change that she was a vital part of Captain Ferio's crew. As the only one with healing magic, she was allotted more freedom around her captain; especially when he was injured.

"God, I forgot how much this stings." He winced as she healed his side wound.

"If you would let me do this more often, you'd be used to it." She replied stoically.

He smiled around his grimace, "You know, if you want to spend more time with me, all you have to do is ask."

She rolled her eyes and focused more intently on her healing, causing him to swear softly.


	11. Ride The Wind That Brought You Back

**A/N:** Part of a drabble challenge from a couple of years ago.

When they lie in the grass with a breeze gliding over them, and she has her hands held up above her to feel the wind twist and wind around her hands, she tells him about her childhood.

She tells him about how she used to run around her family's estate, chasing the wind, or trying to.

She tells him about how her family would laugh and smile at her and comment about her imagination. But they didn't understand.

She smiles at herself, and talks about how she embraced the wind, and how when a gust would wrap around her body, she'd raise her hand to feel it wrap around her hand.

She tells him about how she always imagined she was petting a large, winged creature and that she would imagine that it was green, like her eyes.

She tells him that she talked to the wind. When a strong gust would come up out of nowhere, she'd chastise it, telling it to calm down.

"You know," She smiles, rolling her head in the grass towards him, but still studying her hands, "I thought everyone had an element that called to them."

He watches her hands above them, "Yeah?"

She giggles, "Yeah. I met people with characteristics of what earth, water, fire, and wind are all described as, you know?"

He continues to watch her hands as a silence fell over them. She drops her hands and places them on her stomach, "Sometime in grade school, I stopped thinking about people and elements. I stopped noticing the wind and how it wrapped around me. By the time I came here for the first time, my connection to it was basically gone."

He reaches over and takes her right hand off her stomach to hold.

"You know," she turns her head to look at him, "during that year after…everything, every time the wind would act up, I'd think it was Windom, trying to talk to me, trying to take me back. Sometimes, I'd…"

He rolls his head and looks at her, smiling, "You'd what?"

She bites her lip, a blush creeping across her face, "I'd…I'd talk to it, asking it to send messages…to you."

He reaches up and touches her face, "You want to know something?"

"What?"

"When you were gone, every time I felt a gust of wind, I would swear that I felt your presence, that where the wind touched my skin, it was your hands." He smiles and kisses her fingers.


	12. All I Have To Give

**A/N:** Special gift fic for my Ship Mate

For most of her life, Fuu was prone to these intense migraines. They were few and far between, but when they hit she was almost, as she put it, useless. She had hoped that once she made her residence permanent in New Cephiro, that the headaches would go away.

She was wrong.

When the headache struck, she holed away in her room, requesting to be left alone, so that she may read and lie down to avoid making it worse, and also because she knew that she could rather hostile when she got these headaches and she didn't want to snap at anyone.

She was curled up in her bed, underneath a blanket, the curtains drawn, the only light coming from the muted light-sphere that she had placed on a pillow next to her as she read one of her books.

A soft knock came at her door.

Confused, and admittedly a little agitated, Fuu called at the door, "Who is it?"

"It's me. Can I come in?" a familiar voice called from the other side of the door.

Fuu climbed off her bed, tugging at her oversized faded green shirt to get it to rest more properly on her torso. The cuffs of her dark gray sweatpants swept the floor as she walked to the door. Her temple throbbed with each step, and basically every part of her body hurt.

She cracked it open, squinting in the bright light of the hall, "What's going on, Ferio?"

He slipped passed her and closed the door behind him, "I just wanted to see how you were doing and wanted to know if there was anything I could do to help you."

She smiled at him, rubbing her left eye with the heel of her hand. It was habit she had developed to rub the eye that hurt.

"Ferio, I'm fine. These headaches just happen and when they do I just become…well, I'm not very much fun."

He kissed her forehead, "I just want to be with you. I brought some of my own books to read," he held up two books that he was holding in his right hand, "and I'll just be right here if you fall asleep."

He walked to the bed, kicking off his shoes and tossing his cape on a chair in the corner, and climbed up. He arranged some of the pillows that it didn't look like she had been using and propped himself up against the wall.

She stood there, a bit baffled at how quickly and easily he made himself at home, and he smiled at her and patted the bed next to him.

She sighed, shaking her head, and climbed back in next to him.

He held his arm up, inviting her to rest her head on his chest.

She did, grabbing the blanket she had been curled under earlier and wrapped it around herself.

"Read to me." She requested, knowing that the angle she was at wasn't going to make reading her own book easy.

He smiled down at her, stroking her head, and began, "Cephirians know to respect the ancient shrines…"

She listened, letting her eyelids slowly close, until the throbbing became particularly strong. She rubbed her temple, squeezing her eyes shut.

He looked down at her, feeling her move, "What's wrong?"

She shook her head, "No, nothing, my head just started hurting a little more just now."

Concern laced his amber eyes, "Do you want me to stop reading?"

She shook her head again, "No, no, I don't want you to do that. Just…do…do you think you could, um, rub my temple for a little while? That might help."

He kissed the top of her head, "Of course."

She nuzzled his chest and closed her eyes as he massaged her temple, reading quietly to her.

Soon, she was sound asleep.

Ferio willed the light-sphere to go out, and gently placed her head on a pillow, pulling her glasses off of her face and placing them on the nightstand. He stood, walked over to her side of the bed, and slid her under the covers. Then he climbed back in on his side.

When he did, Fuu shifted back over to him, and rested her head back on his chest. Her left hand was in the middle of his chest and he placed his hand on top of hers, she nuzzled his chest, "Thank you, Ferio."

He smiled in the dark and lifted her hand to his lips, "I love you, Fuu. I wanted to do this."

She smiled tiredly in the dark, "I love you too."


	13. Paradise Is A Kind Of Library

**A/N:** Part of a drabble challenge from a couple years ago

Fuu had always loved stories.

She loved reading about heroes saving the world, and falling in love, and learning about how the most important things in life are the people around you.

She loved their complexity, their simplicity, and she loved sharing them.

She had brought every book she owned with her to New Cephiro, and she would read them to the children of the Palace town, to the trees she sat in, to Hikaru and Umi, to anyone who had ears within her vicinity.

Fuu loved stories.

She begged Clef for every story, every legend, every scroll, every tome that held some value to the people of Cephiro and that held any shred of what the culture was like.

And when she found out most of those books were lost, and some of those legends had never been written down, she took it upon herself to rectify it.

She spent decades collecting every legend Clef could think, and transcribing them.

And when she had them all put together, she read them to everyone.

And when she ran out of the ones she had in black and white, all nice and bound together with glue and on paper that had the most distinct smell of anything she had ever experienced, when she had told the same ones so many times that the people around her could recite them with her, she made up her own.

Ferio knew how she loved stories, loved books.

And he wanted to be the one who could find her new stories, and to watch her light up as she held the books that held them, and listen to her as she read it to him.

But where do you find new stories to give to the girl who knew them all?

When he took his dilemma to Clef, the Guru, as always, offered him sage advice.

"Not all stories are ever really chronicled. The best stories, the ones that matter most, are the ones that we ourselves have to tell."

Usually, the Prince would brush off such inflated advice, but not this time.

Not when it came to her.

The Prince smirked as he sat at his desk, "The stories we have to tell, huh?"

Then, very carefully, very deliberately, the Prince chronicled his life.

When he had written down every story he had to tell her, every event, every piece of advice he head ever heard, every adventure he had ever had, he bound the pages together himself.

He gave it to her for her birthday.

He presented it to her as if it were a sacred artifact, as if it were the most precious thing in the universe.

And, he hoped, to her it would be.

Because it was him.

It was everything he was.

Given only to her.

She held it carefully, cradling it, and when she realized what it was, she began to cry.

"Ferio, this is too much. This is everything you are, and I have nothing to give back to you."

He just smiled and kissed her hand like he did in the Forest of Silence when they first met, "That's more than enough."


	14. Sleeping To Dream About You

**A/N:** Part of a drabble challenge from a couple years ago.

They both suffered from the occasional nightmare.

Some wounds and some fears don't ever truly heal, or go away.

For Fuu, she knew when one was coming if the dream started out with her back on earth, doing things with her family.

It wasn't long before it dissolved into the battle she didn't fully understand and the voice pleading for her to grant it its first and last "selfish" wish.

For Ferio, it was dreams of monsters, of being back in the Forest of Silence, of being alone.

In their darkest nightmares, they lose each other.

When they wake from those dreams, they watch each other sleep.

Some part of them is always touching each other; whether it's them lying on each other, or just a hand touching a part of the other, there is always a physical connection.

It grounds them back in the reality where the other is still there.

One night, Fuu gasps awake from a particularly vivid dream.

She's so terrified, she doesn't move from her position on her stomach.

The first thing that registers in Fuu's mind is that Ferio's hand is underneath hers.

When her eyes adjust more completely to the dark, she sees Ferio's amber eyes looking over at her.

"Hey." He whispers quietly.

"Hello." She whispers back.

"Bad dream?" he asks.

She nods, squeezing his hand.

"Me too." He says.

They watch each other in the darkness, both noting the dark circles under the others eyes.

"C'mere," he says.

She slides closer to him, resting her head on his chest.

He strokes her hair and begins to hum softly.

Soon, they are both lost to the deep, dreamless sleep of comfort that being with each other allots.


	15. Kiss Me Out Of The Bearded Barley

**A/N:** Part of a drabble challenge from a couple of years ago

It was a peaceful day at the palace.

There was no immediate business that needed attending to, or delegates visiting; it was just a quiet, eternal spring day.

Fuu was sitting under a tree in the gardens, reading a book that the Guru had given her, when she heard a rustling in the branches above her.

Not paying it too much attention, she continued to read her book.

"You know—,"

"Oh my goodness!" Fuu exclaimed, jumping at the sudden voice.

"—I taught you to climb trees so you wouldn't have to sit on the ground to read," The green haired, scruffy prince continued, as he hung upside down from a branch next to her.

"When did you get here?" she asked, closing her book and setting it aside.

"Oh I don't know, a while ago. But back to the more pressing issue: When was the last time you climbed a tree?" He grabbed the branch he was hanging from and, in an impressive display of acrobatic ability, dismounted from it so he could stand next to her.

She shrugged, "I can't recall. But clearly it's been too long, if it's caused you to worry about it."

He made a face at her, "Joke all you want, Sassy-pants—,"

"'Sassy-pants'?" she giggled

"—but I bet you I could win if we raced to…" he surveyed the branches above his head before spotting one that seemed like a fair distance up and pointing to it, "…that branch."

She stood, brushing her skirt and leggings of stray grass. She took a hair band that she had around her wrist (Umi or Hikaru always seemed to need one) and bunched the fabric of her skirt together and secured it with the hair band, pulling the fabric tighter and a bit higher on her thighs. She followed his hand to see what branch he was pointing at.

Using another hair band, she pulled her short hair into a stubby ponytail, and placed her hands on her hips, "Alright. And what does the winner get?"

He shrugged, smirking, and grabbed the branch he had dismounted from, not pulling himself up yet, "A kiss from the loser?"

She chuckled, grabbing her own branch. "I think you need to work on your definitions of 'winning' and 'losing'."

"Ready? Go!"

It was a struggle at first for Fuu, just to get up on to the first branch, and Ferio was, as always, more agile among the branches than she was, so it was no surprise, really, that he beat her to the branch.

He sat on it, a smug grin on his face, "I win!"

She mockingly sneered at him, making him grin wider. He tapped his lips, indicating he wanted his prize.

She leaned in close to him, triggering him to close his eyes, and said, "Best two out of three."

She began scrambling up the branches.

"Hey! That's cheating!" He called after her, laughing.

"First to the top wins!" she yelled back.

Even with her lead, he managed to beat her in the end.

He sat on one of the topmost branches, grinning at her, "I win again!"

She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Hey now, there's no need to be a sore loser," he joked, swinging his legs from the branch.

She jokingly punched him in the arm, but he fell off the branch anyway, landing on a large one, a few branches down.

"Ferio!" she cried, terrified that she had hurt him, and scrambled down the branches to him.

He was on his back, his eyes closed; when she reached him she cradled his head in her lap, "Ferio? C'mon, talk to me."

"Fuu?" he croaked out.

"Ferio, I'm so sorry, I didn't think I hit you that hard, are you alright? I'm so sorry."

"You know would make this better?" he asked.

"What? Anything you want," she said, panic still shaking her voice.

"That kiss you owe me," he smirked at her.

Realization hit her then and her worry was replaced with agitation, "Oh you little punk!"

He laughed then, "I'm sorry, I know, that was a dirty trick."

She glared at him for a minute, and after he apologized again, she asked, "Are you sure you're alright?"

He nodded, sitting up, "Yeah, I'm fine."

She pointed an accusing finger at him, and jabbed it into his chest, "Don't you ever do that again."

He nodded, "I won't."

She grabbed his shirt in her fist and pulled him to her. She kissed him, and when she broke away, she said, "I know you won't."


	16. We Fight Together

**A/N:** Part of a drabble challenge from a couple of years ago.

Fuu and Ferio don't spare together. It's not because they don't want to, it's just…Fuu's sword is too big to casually spare against.

She loved her sword, though, even for how obscenely large it was.

It was as much a part of her as Windom was, even if it did confuse her.

Ferio was sharpening the blade of his own sword when she commented about hers.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well it's just…I'd had no experience around swords prior to Cephiro. Not like Hikaru or Umi. The only weaponry I was familiar with was a bow and arrow, as I had in the Forest of Silence. So why something so big? Why a sword at all?" Fuu asked, as she practiced stances and sword strokes that Lafarga had taught her.

Ferio shrugged, swinging his sword freely with his right hand, "It's what the legend said. I somehow doubt that they were being Knight Specific when they came up with it. Widen your stance a bit more."

Fuu sighed as she looked at her feet to spread them a bit farther apart, "I'm sure you're right. It always just bothered me."

Ferio leaned his sword against the wall they were near and stood behind Fuu, "Here, just a little wider."

He nudged her feet with his and placed his right hand on her forearm, guiding it up a bit more as his left arm wrapped around her waist, "Just like that."

She looked over her left shoulder where his head rested, "I think you've stopped given me sword fighting techniques."

He grinned at her and kissed her cheek, "Now what gave you that idea."

She giggled as he kissed behind her ear. He wrapped his hand around hers, holding her sword. He managed to slide the hilt of the sword out of her hand.

"Ferio, don't—," She tried to warn.

The sword fell immediately to the ground, dragging Ferio down with it, "Ow! Fuck!"

She leaned down and took the hilt from him, lifting it with ease and willing it back into her glove. Ferio straightened himself out and shook out his hand, "Fuckin'…shit that hurt."

She took his hand from him, examining it, "Are you alright? I should have warned you about my sword."

He shook his head, "Yeah I'm fine. I should've known something like that would've happened." He grinned at her, a slight blush in his tan cheeks, "I guess I was just distracted."

She smiled at him, then looked back at his hand, "Well none of the bones seem broken. You'll probably just have an impressive bruise there. Unless you want me to heal it for you?"

Ferio shook his head, "Nah, I'll live."

She smirked at him, then kissed his palm, "Well, either way, I'm sure that didn't hurt anything,"

He grinned at her, "No, I think that actually helped."


	17. Sins

**A/N:** Part of a drabble challenge from a couple of years ago.

They're relationship did not begin romantically. Despite outward appearances, Ferio dropping hints about wanting to be more than a friend to her, and their clear chemistry and connection, Fuu was, almost obscenely, hesitant about forming a relationship with him.

Initially, Ferio didn't think much of it.

Fuu was…traditional.

He respected that.

But something about the way she avoided a relationship with him that made him wonder what was happening.

He had to be careful about when and how he approached her though.

One day, he followed Fuu to the room that she, Hikaru, and Umi shared.

"Fuu?"

She jumped, unaware that he had followed her, and turned to face him, "Oh! Ferio! What can I do for you?"

Ferio closed the door behind him, not missing how Fuu tensed, then turned to face her, "I was just wondering…"

He let his sentence trail off, trying to find the best way to phrase his question.

She sat down on the bed, hands clasped in her lap, "Ferio?"

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed, "I like you, Fuu. I like you a lot."

She smiled sheepishly, "I like you too."

He smirked, "I don't think you understand me."

She tilted her head to her right, "I'm sorry?"

He walked over to her and knelt in front of her, "Fuu, when I'm with you I'm so impossibly happy. I love learning new things about you,"

"Ferio," she said weakly.

"And listening to you talk to your friends and with the delegates." He continued, not noticing her speak, looking at her hands.

"Ferio," she tried again, her voice shaking.

"I love how you smile, and how you laugh, and I…I think I love—,"

"Stop." She said clearly and as firmly as she could manage. He looked at her, and his eyes widened.

She was crying.

"Fuu, what—,"

"Please stop." She said, her voice quaking and tears falling down her cheeks. She bowed her head and let out a sob, "You can't. Not me, Ferio. Please don't love me. I'm…Please don't love me."

"Fuu." He said, trying to get her to look at him, "Fuu, why shouldn't I love you?"

"Because I'm broken!" she nearly yells at him, her head snapping up, "I've killed two people, Ferio! I killed your sister!"

He touched her face, "Fuu, you gave my sister what she wanted. You granted her wish!"

"And Zagato?" she asked, shaking now, "What wish was I granting of his? He was on a suicide mission, sure, but his true wish wasn't to die. I killed them…"

"She forgave you!"

"I have _sinned_ , Ferio!" she yelled, her hands clenched so tightly into fists that she could feel her nails drawing blood, "I don't deserve—!"

"What?" Ferio interrupted, "What don't you deserve, Fuu? To be happy?"

She stared down at her hands and clenched her jaw.

"That's it, isn't it?" he asked, bowing down to try to catch her eyes, "That's why you don't want us to be together."

A sob scraped out of her, and she pressed her fists against her eyes.

"Please. Don't love me." She whispered.

He climbed onto the bed next to her, gently moving her into his lap. He kissed her hair and began to rock her gently, "Do you love me?"

"Ferio…" she sighed.

"No, no," he stopped her, "Just focus on that question. Just answer that one thing for me."

She nodded, and hiccupped, "Yes."

He stopped rocking her and held her face so she looked at him, "Then that's all I care about. Everything else comes later. Okay?"

She stared into his eyes and sniffed. She nodded again, "Okay."


	18. Secrets

**A/N:** Part of a drabble challenge from a couple of years ago.

As odd as it was, she liked hiding her romance.

She liked having one thing that no one knew about that brought her such joy.

He was her secret.

He was her something that the outside world, with its anxieties, its stress, its anger, couldn't truly touch.

She wondered if he thought the same of her, even though everyone in his world knew about them.

She told him about how she liked that part of their relationship, and she asked him if he thought of it the same way.

He just smiled at her, and kissed the ring he had given her, "Fuu, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me and for me."

She smiled sheepishly at him, "I'll take that as a yes."

He chuckled, "Please do."


	19. Roadtrip AU

**A/N:** A Roadtrip!AU my friend Shinomu and I came up with. It might end up being expanded and becoming it's own thing but for now, it's just another one-shot.

It is 3 in the morning and Umi is having second thoughts.

Hikaru is curled up in the backseat of her car, and the coffee from the fast food place tastes awful but it's caffeinated and so is she, and she's been texting Fuu about being ready but she hasn't heard anything back. She checks her phone again before setting it into the center console. It had been Fuu's idea to go on this damn trip; coordinating various stops, reserving hotels, even offering to pay for gas for the entire trip; and Umi was grateful about all those things, but she was not a morning person and this was not helping her growing rage.

A pop song comes on the radio and it surprises her, making her jump and spill some of the coffee on her hand, "Shit."

Hikaru shifts underneath the game-related blanket that Fuu gave her for Christmas last year (they've both told her what the name of it was but she never really remembers it) and mumbles something.

Umi sets the coffee in the cup holder, shaking her hand, and turns down the radio. She glances at Hikaru in the rearview mirror, but she's already rolled over and fallen back asleep.

It must be nice to be small enough to use the backseat of a car like a bed.

Umi sighs as she flicks on her turn signal to enter Fuu's neighborhood.

While Umi is from a certain kind of money and is used to large mansions and swanky neighborhoods, she still gets a certain kind of uncomfortable when she goes to Fuu's neighborhood.

She's told Fuu about and when Fuu asked her what it was that bothered her, all she could think to say was, "It just feels like the houses are judging me. Especially the one just before I reach your house."

Fuu had laughed.

Umi didn't think it was funny.

As she rounds the first corner and passes the judgmental house, Umi shoots it an extra pointed glare at it.

"Too early for this shit," Umi grumbles.

She pulls up to the curb of Fuu's house and texts Fuu again only to see the front door of her house burst open and see the curly haired blonde waving frantically for her to come up to the house.

Umi shrugs at her, still holding her phone, trying to communicate the amount of "what the actual hell" she was feeling. Only to be met with more beckoning from Fuu. Umi glances at the backseat to make sure Hikaru was still out, and then sighs as she cuts the engine.

"Still too early for this shit," Umi grumbles as she climbs out of the car and tugs at the sleeve of her sweater. She crosses her arms as she climbs up to the house. Fuu's smile is a mile wide and the second Umi gets close, Fuu wraps her arms around her neck, "Oh Umi, I'm so excited!"

Umi smiles and hugs her back, "Yeah I know you are, but the sooner we get going the better. What did you need me up here for?"

Fuu grabs her hands and grins, "Just help getting my stuff to your car."

"Oh God, Fuu we talked about how I don't have much room in my car, please tell me you didn't go overboard with the packing." Umi grumbles.

Fuu shakes her head, "No I know, I just need help with the big suitcase. I've got a backpack for my other stuff."

"'Other stuff'? You smuggling drugs or something?"

Fuu blushes and fumbles for a moment before simply replying, "Not this trip."

Umi laughs, "Oh thank god the banter lessons and paying off."

Fuu makes a face at Umi as she swings her pack over her shoulder, "Grab the other end of my suitcase."

"You stuff a body in here? It was just supposed to be clothing and the essentials," Umi whines as they lift Fuu's suitcase.

"Oh like you didn't bring a microcosm of your wardrobe with you." Fuu grunts as they waddle down the driveway.

Umi rolls her eyes but doesn't respond. As she pulls the car keys out of her pocket and pops the trunk, she says, "So I guess it's a microcosm of your library?"

Fuu chuckles as they slide her suitcase into the trunk, "It's gonna be a long trip, Umi. I imagine we all brought some of our own comforts of home."

Umi closes the trunk as Fuu climbs into the passenger seat of Umi's car. Umi catches a glimpse of the ring on Fuu's finger, "Yeah, I imagine we did."

Umi climbs into the car and they set off.

Fuu pulls out a map and spreads it out on the dashboard. Umi laughs as she takes a drink of her coffee.

"What?" Fuu asks, smiling at her friend.

Umi shakes her head, "No, it's just…I figured you'd pull out a smart phone or a GPS and we'd have an itinerary or some shit."

Fuu grins, "Nah, I figured we'd keep it old school for this trip."

Umi grins at Fuu and turns the radio back up slightly. Umi takes another sip of coffee, slowly beginning to feel more like her normal self, and Fuu starts circling locations on the map in red.

Umi sings along to a song as Fuu studies the map intently, until finally they hear a rustling in the backseat.

Umi glances in the rearview at Hikaru and smiles, "Hey, look who's decided to join the party!"

Hikaru presses the heel of her hand into her eye and yawns as Umi turns the radio back down, "Good morning sunshine!"

Hikaru giggles tiredly, rolling up the sleeves of her shirt and stretching, "Morning, Umi."

"Good morning, Hikaru!" Fuu smiles, adjusting her glasses, turning around, and looking at Hikaru.

Hikaru yawns, "Oh hi Fuu. When did we pick you up?"

"Just now, dear. Once we get out of Fuu's neighborhood, we'll be off to see the world." Umi grins.

Fuu rolls her eyes, "Or at least this country,"

Hikaru smiles, "I think that that's more than enough world for us to see."

"You two have no imagination!" Umi chastises.

"And you've had too much coffee. Already." Fuu comments, glancing at the cup in Umi's hand.

"No such thing. Now are we ready for our damn adventure?" Umi asks.

Fuu rolls her eyes and Hikaru giggles in the back.

"Oh c'mon guys, it's now 4 in the morning and we've got a long trip ahead of us. Humor me on this." Umi says.

Fuu sighs but smiles, "Oh alright, ask us again."

Umi grins, "Alright! Now, are we ready for our damn adventure!"

"Yes!" Fuu and Hikaru say together.

"I can't hear you!" Umi says loudly.

"Yes!" They yell back.

"Yes what?" Umi yells.

"Yes we're ready for our damn adventure!" Fuu laughs, "Now let's get going!"

"Woo!" Hikaru yells, throwing her hands in the air.

"Let's do this!" Umi yells as she cranks the radio and guns it down the road.


	20. The Year After

**A/N:** My take on part of how the girls managed during the year between series one and two of MKR

"The Year After."

That's what they had taken to calling the time after their first visit and their second.

It was a simple title, an easy name.

But it carried such a weight with it that when one of them uttered the phrase, a shift occurred in all of them.

It had not been an easy year.

* * *

It happened more often than they were willing to admit to anyone but each other.

It was often too much for them to keep inside, to keep smiling and pretending that everything was fine and that there wasn't a gaping hole in their hearts from the memory that only they shared.

Hikaru was not the first to break, and she knew she would not be the last.

They were at Umi's house, seeking refuge after a long week apart, and they had been talking about their future, discussing exams, trying so hard to pretend that they were still just normal middle school girls, when Hikaru had started to cry.

Umi, sitting next to her, immediately wrapped an arm around the smaller girl, and asked what was wrong.

"I can't even think about the future!" she sobbed, "Just thinking about tomorrow makes me nauseous; I only feel like I belong, like I'm home when I'm with you two! And yet we go to different schools and we live in different areas and we try to explain why we're so willing to go these lengths to be together to everyone else but they don't understand!"

"Hikaru…" Umi tried to comfort, moving closer to her.

Hikaru held her head in her hands, propping her elbows on her knees, "I'm so scared and jumpy all the time; everything is so loud and big and difficult here. I've had to stop teaching at the dojo because I hurt someone. I feel like I'm always in fight or flight mode and then…" she looked up then, eyes still shining, and stared at Umi, "when I'm with you both it all gets quieter. I feel at ease, I feel like I don't have to be…anything. And trying to think about going to school, going somewhere further away from that I just…"

She bit her lip then, fighting back another sob.

Umi made like she was going to try to speak but Hikaru continued, "And I feel awful for feeling this way and I…I hate myself for it but I'm just so scared."

"I'm scared too." Fuu said quietly. She had been sitting on the floor in front of them as Hikaru started crying and had only just now found her voice.

Hikaru choked out a laugh, "I know you are."

"No," Fuu said, moving to sit on her knees in front of Hikaru, "I don't think that you do."

Fuu reached up and held Hikaru's face in her hands, "Hikaru I am…terrified of the idea of being apart from you and Umi. Sometimes I think I'm still so stuck in survival mode that I see this entire city as enemy territory and we've somehow been separated. I feel the exact same way that you do; everything gets so much "quieter," as you put it, when I'm with the two of you because I don't have to fight as hard anymore."

"Because we fight together," Umi said, taking Hikaru's hand in hers and lacing their fingers together.

"Because I know where I falter, where I can't, you two are there, backing me." Fuu wiped away Hikaru's tears with her thumbs.

Hikaru pressed her right hand against Fuu's, keeping it on her cheek.

Fuu smiled, "Distance doesn't mean anything. Wherever you are, I'm there too. If things get "loud," if things get scary, we are always with each other. It doesn't matter that no one else understands; they don't have to. All I know is that you two are why I keep going. You're the reason I keep fighting."

Umi rested her head against the side of Hikaru's, "Together or not at all."

Hikaru hiccupped, smiling at them, "Always."


	21. Prompt 1

**A/N:** Prompt: "The Girls are policewomen. Undercover agents, international, intelligence, your call." So this became more Brooklyn Nine Nine than anything else.

"I'm not sure sending Hikaru in as our undercover agent will end well." Officer Umi commented, sipping her coffee and studying the proposed plan Fuu had handed her for their next sting.

"Why do you say that?" Fuu asked, studying her latest report. The new captain, Clef, was something of a stickler for perfection and Fuu was trying to make sure her (and her partners') work was as close as she could get it.

"Do you remember what happened with the exotic animals smuggling ring?" Umi asked, smirking across her desk at Fuu.

"She only kept one of the animals." Fuu said, looking at Umi incredulously but smiling.

"Yes. After we searched her car for the other five." Umi chuckled.

"I could've saved more! They just wanted to be friends!" Came the loud yell from the break room as Hikaru accidentally (and for the third time that week) set her sandwich on fire in the toaster oven.


	22. Prompt 2

**A/N:** Prompt: "Ealge/Hikaru/Lantis - there's a blackout and Eagle flips out (he's not scared tho)."

An ear piercing scream rang through the rooms just as the lights flickered, and then went out completely in Hikaru's small apartment.

"Eagle what the hell." Lantis asked, rubbing his ears in the dim streetlight coming in through the windows.

"What, who, no, no one screamed, I certainly didn't, it's not like I'm scared of the dark or anything, why would you say that what's with the third degree, God Lantis what is your deal?!" Eagle rambled, gaining volume until he was yelling at his friend.

Hikaru chuckled and grabbed his hand, "It's okay, Eagle, let's go get some candles while Lantis—" she shot him a look as he tried to protest—"goes to check the fuse box."

Eagle nodded, "Uh, yeah okay. You can hold my hand or whatever while we look, you know, in case you're scared."

Hikaru grinned at him, "Thanks Eagle! You're so brave."

Lantis rolled his eyes as the pair left the room.


	23. Prompt 3

**A/N:** Prompt: "Umi/Ascot - Pride and Prejudice!Au, Umi is Mr. Darcy?" Full disclosure: I know basically nothing about Pride and Prejudice, and pretty much all of the dialogue I pulled straight from the IMDB page.

Ascot didn't want to see Umi ever again. She was the most insufferable, rude, loud, impossible woman he had ever met.

So why was she standing in his parlor, drenched in rain, and fidgeting?

He studied her, waiting for an explanation or for her to say something, anything.

"This is a lovely house." She finally.

Perhaps, anything other than that.

He nodded curtly, "Thank you. Please," he gestured to a chair behind her, "won't you sit?"

She blushed deeply, "No, thank you."

Another terrible minute of silence and pointedly not looking at each other passed.

Ascot sighed, "Miss Umi, is there something I can help you w—"

"Mr. Ascot." she said suddenly cutting him off, face growing ever more red, "I have struggled in vain and I can bear it no longer. These past months have been a torment. I came here with the single object of seeing you… I had to see you. I have fought against my better judgment, my family's expectations, the inferiority of your birth by rank and circumstance. All these things I am willing to put aside and ask you to end my agony."

Ascot, bewildered by her speech, stammered, "I…I don't understand."

She smiled then, a small, scared smile that almost made it seem like tears were in her eyes, "I love you."


	24. Prompt 4

**A/N:** Prompt: "Emeraude/Zagato - partners in crime"

Emeraude smiled at him in the crowded art museum lobby, "Oh, honey, let's take a picture! Please?"

Zagato chuckled at her, "Of course, Emma, whatever you want,"

He took her camera from her and held it out from them.

"Five cameras in the lobby alone, along with four security guards," She said through her smile.

"Five security guards, love," he whispered back, snapping a quick photo of them with a wide angle on the background, "the man in the hoodie looking very engrossed in that issue of National Geographic from last year."

She kissed his cheek, whispering back, "I didn't count him because nicked his wallet and keys."

He grinned at her, "Sticky fingers,"

She smirked back, "All the better to steal priceless art with, my dear."


	25. Prompt 5

**A/N:** Prompt: "Caldina and Umi are dancers?"

Umi fidgeted behind the curtain. She could hear the cheers of the audience, and she new there was an expanse of stage between her and even the first row of patrons, but it felt like they were all standing just on the other side of the curtain, ready to stare and gawk at her as if she were an exhibit at a freak show.

In another life, she figured she would've been in one.

"You doin' alright, sugar?" Caldina, her mentor and partner asked her, "You're shaking so much your bangles are jinglin' without ya!"

Umi chewed her lip as she tried to straighten her shoulders, "Yeah, yeah I'm fine, just…just nerves is all."

Caldina grinned and winked at her, "Don't worry 'bout it, darlin'. Remember, we're just the distraction while your boy nicks their wallets."

Umi smirked at Caldina before checking her position for the fifth time.

Caldina sighed, focusing on the curtain, "Look, you want honesty? The audience don't matter. What they think don't matter. What matters, is that, for a minute, you are in total control of the room. And that, darlin'," She smiled again, turning back to Umi, "is what power is all about."


	26. Prompt 6

**A/N:** Prompt: "OOH BUT SHOULDN'T THERE BE A MANDATORY HOSPITAL!AU?" Heavily, heavily influenced by _Scrubs_.

"You know," Fuu said, uncharacteristic anger seeping into her voice as she confronted her mentor, Dr. Clef, "We've been trying really hard to keep up with the insane amount of work you and this damn hospital has thrown at us!"

A distant, "Yeah!" and "You tell him!" could be heard down the hallway as Umi and Hikaru, her fellow residents and friends since college and medical school, cheered her on.

"All we want is some honest advice!" Fuu snapped, crossing her arms over her chest and trying to stand tall, even though most of her frame was shaking.

"Fine, you want my advice," Dr. Clef said, facing her, "No matter where you go in life, always look out for Lafarga, the tackling Alzheimer's patient."

With that, Dr. Clef turned and walked away.

Fuu, very confused, called after him, "What does that even me—?"

"Who am I?" someone yelled, just as they tackled Fuu to the ground.


	27. Prompt 7

**A/N:** Prompt: "Emeraude/Zagato-ghosts"

"He's back." She said quietly.

Zagato looked down to where she was staring and saw her brother standing there, looking up at the portrait they were sitting next to.

"He's grown up so much." She said, studying her brother. She pulled her legs up against her chest and rested her chin on her knees. "He's gotten so tall; his hair is so long."

Zagato reached out to touch her but before he could, she leapt down from their perch. Her hair, always long, should have billowed out behind her, but it moved as if it were trapped in water. She landed just to her brother's right and studied his face carefully.

Ferio, unaware of what was happening, continued to look at the portrait of Emeraude that Zagato was sitting next to.

He was talking.

"I never liked this picture of you." He said.

Emeraude's eyes widened as the words left his mouth. Zagato felt the echo of pain in his chest as he watched her go from thinking that her little brother could see her, to realizing that he was only talking to the portrait.

Tears welled in Emeraude's eyes as Ferio continued, "Your smile never seemed right, and those flowers…I don't think the painter ever actually got to know you. If he had, he never would have chosen those."

A laugh tried to come from Emeraude, but it was strangled by a sob as she rubbed her face, "I know. I never liked those flowers either."

"Emeraude…" Zagato said quietly, trying to catch her eye.

She shook her head, never looking away from Ferio. Ferio shook his head, "Gods I sound like a crazy person."

He sighed, and shook himself, "Alright, let's try to do this."

Emeraude looked at him, concern etching itself into her features. She opened her mouth, almost as if she were going to say his name, when he spoke again.

"I, uhm," Ferio's voice broke. He coughed, trying to correct it, "I…I miss you. I miss you so much. I know we all do but…,"

He quickly wiped away a tear that fell from his right eye with the heel of his hand. Emeraude reached for him but pulled her hand back before she touched him.

He squared his shoulders and stood taller, "But you were _my_ sister."

Zagato only noticed the importance that Ferio put on the word "my" but as he watched her, it was the word "sister" that Emeraude flinched at.

"Ferio," as she said his name, she winced, as if it hurt her, but she continued, "I'm so sorry, I don't deserve…you didn't deserve—" she tried to say.

"Emeraude," Zagato said, interrupting her. She turned her head away from him.

"And I forgive you." Ferio said over Zagato. Emeraude floated away from Ferio as if he had swung out at her, eyes wide, and Zagato sat very still, watching the young Prince.

Ferio coughed again, almost sounding like a chuckle, and turned his gaze from the portrait to his feet and stuck his hands in his pockets, "I mean, of course I do, I think I forgave you the moment I knew what happened. But, Sis," Emeraude winced at the endearment as he looked back at the picture briefly before looking back down and rubbing the back of his head, "I've been so _angry_ lately. At Clef, at Lafarga, at Fuu…"

He winced as he said the knight's name, and Emeraude let herself get closer to him; not yet touching him but even closer than she had been when she first jumped down. Zagato watched her face, seeing emotion after emotion flicker through her eyes and not knowing what to say or do to make any of it better.

Unsurprisingly, being dead had its disadvantages.

Ferio smiled at his feet, "She reminds me a lot of you, actually. Always quiet, always rolling her eyes at me, always…always looking sad or tired when she thinks I can't see her."

Emeraude let out another strangled laugh, not bothering to try to stop the tears that fell from her eyes, "I doubt she's as stubborn as me,"

Quietly, Zagato left the spot next to the portrait and began to move towards Emeraude's side.

"And I…I snapped at her today and she didn't deserve it," Ferio coughed, his voice quaking, sniffled, and spoke to the floor rather than back at his sister's portrait, "and she called me out on some of the stupid, angry shit I've been doing lately, and told me that if it was because I was still angry about you that she understood, and just…just a bunch'a other shit, and I told her I wasn't mad about that and then she, Gods," he rolled his head back onto his shoulders so that he was staring at the ceiling. Emeraude and Zagato both saw how red his eyes were, even though he was smiling, "she always does this thing where when we fight she just says these little things that fuckin' just…just stop me right in my tracks. It's unbearable."

"That sounds like you," Zagato said from behind her. She looked over her at him, a small smile sliding into place on her face.

"So she looks at me," Ferio continued, oblivious to the ghosts next to him, "and she just asks, 'Then why are you mad?' and for the life of me, I didn't know what to say to her. So I…" he sighed, "I left."

"Tsk, Ferio," Emeraude chastised.

Ferio shook his head, finally looking back at the portrait, "I know, I know, not one of my better moments. But before I knew it, I was here, talking to you."

He scrubbed at his face, "I…I think I was just mad at myself because…because I felt like you left me,"

Emeraude placed a hand over her mouth, and moved as if she wanted to grab Ferio, to hug him, but Zagato touched her shoulder gently. She looked at him, fresh tears falling from her eyes, and while it broke something within him, he shook his head, "You'll only scare him."

"He needs me. I was never there before but I can—" she tried to counter, when Ferio continued.

"You left me and I didn't get to tell you that I forgave you or that I loved you or anything we always want to say to someone before they're gone." His head was bowed again, and his voice was getting gruff from trying not to cry.

Emeraude's shoulder sagged under Zagato's touch as her brother spoke, "Ferio, no…"

"So I'm sorry, Emeraude. I'm sorry I've been angry, and I'm sorry I couldn't do more to help the knights or to get to you before you died, and I'm sorry I haven't been who you always thought I could be." His shoulders shook violently from trying not to sob, but his voice kept breaking and Emeraude heard it.

She shook Zagato's hand off her shoulder.

"Emearude!" Zagato yelled, trying and failing to grab her again, "Emeraude, no!"

She wrapped her arms around her brother, "Stop it. Stop right this second."

Ferio's head snapped up and his eyes were wide. Around him was a bright light and a warmth. Very quickly, it all solidified into the shape of his sister, hugging him.

"Emeraude?" he asked in disbelief.

She pulled away in her own surprised and looked down at herself. Her eyes widened as she began to understand what had happened, she looked to where Zagato had been only to be greeted by the faintest outline of him looking back at her in disbelief, before she looked at her brother.

They stared at each other for a long moment.

Finally, Ferio spoke.

"You've been crying."

She laughed, "Well so have you."

"Wha…? How—?"

"Ferio, I don't know how long I get to do this so you listen to me, understood?" Emeraude said quickly, placing her hands on her brother's shoulders.

Still in shook, he nodded.

She nodded too, then let out a slow breath.

And then she slapped him.

"Ow! What the—?!"

"You listen to me, _Prince_ Ferio, I have never been anything other than proud of you." Ferio tensed under her hands, and bowed his head.

She wrapped her arms around him again, "Please, Ferio, stop thinking that you let me down or that I died disappointed or angry with you. You're my brother."

She pulled away and held his face in her hands, smiling, "You were my first friend."

Slowly, Emeraude began to glow. Ferio looked at her in a panic, "What's happening?"

"I have to go." She smiled again, even as tears spilled from her eyes.

She kissed Ferio's forehead as the glow got brighter, "I love you. You are a great man, and you are going to be a _wonderful_ ruler."

He clung to her, "Emeraude!"

"Goodbye."

In a brilliant light she was gone from Ferio's sight. Zagato, having finally regained his composure, had the idea to put Ferio to sleep.

Luckily for him, it worked.

Just as Ferio slumped to the ground, Emeraude was back by Zagato's side.


	28. Prompt 8

**A/N:** Prompt: "Zaggy and Emmy cooking together, or eating ice cream." This turned into a very Domestic!AU, with dogs and other rescue animals in a crap house that they're rebuilding and Zagato's got a 7 to 6 job because he just started and Emeraude's a freelance artist who works from home.

"Em, are you sure you don't need any help?" Zagato asked, leaning against the door frame. One of the dogs (Maximus?) sat next to Zagato, filling the door frame. Zagato nodded at the dog who panted at him, grinning widely. A crash and Emeraude cursing brought him back to the well-intentioned destruction in front of him.

"Oh darn it! Zagato, could you please go get the fire extinguisher?" Emearude called over her shoulder, chasing away one of the cats (wait, was the _cat_ named Maximus?) from the flames with a dish towel, blonde ponytail shaking and hitting her back.

Zagato reached for it at the top of the fridge, "Did you make sure to get it refilled since last time?"

"Yes!" Emeraude called, just as the smoke detectors began to go off, causing the dogs to begin barking in a panic.

"Really?" Emearude yelled back at the detectors, "We're a little passed that point don't you think?"

As Zagato began to extinguish the flames, Emeraude turned her yelling to the dogs, "And quit that barking!"

The flames extinguished, the stove off, and the windows open, Zagato followed the frenzied yelling and barking to the living room where Emeraude stood in the middle of the room, looking panicked as she tried to restore order.

Zagato let out a single whistle and the dogs immediately calmed down, looking at him expectantly. He then hitched his thumb behind him and they all scampered off to what had been designated as "their" room.

Emeraude sank into the sofa, "They like you more."

He chuckled and crossed the room to sit on the coffee table in front of her. She hid her face in her hands, "How many meals caught on fire does that make this week?"

Zagato shrugged, "I mean what really counts as 'on fire'—"

Emeraude looked through her fingers at him, "Zagato."

He sighed, "The third."

Emeraude groaned into her hands, "I'm never going to get better at cooking."

He leaned forward, grabbing her wrists and pulling her hands off her face. She followed her arms and leaned forward towards him.

He kissed her forehead, "C'mon, love, I think that ice cream place you like is still open,"

He pulled her to her feet as he stood and kissed her lips gently, "It's okay, you'll figure it out."

He turned, heading for the door, and put his coat on. As he was putting his keys into his pocket, he felt a pressure on his back. He looked over his shoulder and saw the top of Emeraude's head; she was leaning against him.

"I'm sorry I keep messing up, I know you work really hard, and you deserve to come home to a nice meal." She mumbled into his coat.

He turned around and hugged her, "It's okay. Besides, I really want ice cream."


	29. Prompt 9

**A/N:** Prompt: "Fuu/Ferio - she's a classic pianist he's a punk rocker who can't keep his shirt on"

Fuu pinched the bridge of her nose.

A Punk Rocker.

Really.

 _What_ had her manager been thinking, agreeing for her to do a duet with him?

"Would you please, Ferio, put your shirt on? This isn't even really a practice session, we're still working on the song." Fuu sighed from her piano bench.

Ferio shrugged as he slipped his t-shirt back on, "Your loss."

She rolled her eyes, "And what a loss it is."

Ferio smirked as he sat on the stool opposite her and started strumming his guitar, "So, what do ya got, Ms. Pianist?"

She shook her head, "Just the line, 'And I think you can make anyone fall in love' that I've been trying to work with for the last six months. Maybe you can do something with it that I can't."

Ferio grinned at her, "You wanna write a love song with me?"

She smiled back, "I want to write a song that will sell both of our albums."

He smirked, "Eh, toe-may-to tom-a-to."


	30. Prompt 10

**A/N:** Prompt: "Fuu works in a bookshop! Ferio comes in looking for the cafe, because all bookshops sell coffee now, right? There isn't one. He keeps coming back anyway. (He brings his own coffee, she tells him off for bringing drinks into the bookshop... so he brings her one too...?)"

The first time it happens, she assumes its an honest mistake. He has a point, a great deal of bookshops now days do seem to have cafes, and, if she's being honest, she's entertained the idea of letting her friend Hikaru open up her own little cafe in the corner to help drum up business, but nothing's ever been finalized.

But then he started bringing his own coffee to the shop.

She confronted him, told him that unless he was going to clean up after himself to leave the coffee at home. He had shrugged and left.

She sighed at her counter, it was a particularly slow day, and a small voice in the back of her head was wondering if part of it was because she had yelled at the green haired fiend.

Maybe she should propose her cafe idea to Hikaru.

She sighed again, leaning heavily on the counter, when the door jingled open.

She stood up straight, pulling at her shirt, "Welcome! Is there anything I can help y—"

"Yo." The green haired boy from yesterday said, holding up a hand in greeting.

"Oh." She replied, shifting awkwardly.

He stood on the other side of the counter, setting his drink carrier down, "Don't act too excited."

He smiled at her and, despite herself, she blushed at him, "Are those both for you? Because I'll have to ask you to—"

"This one's for you." He interrupted, holding out one of the cups.

She looked from the cup to the boy, to the cup again.

He laughed nervously, "I didn't poison it or anything, if that's what you're worried about."

"I wasn't. But now…" She said, arching an eyebrow at him over her glasses.

He laughed then, "Okay, okay, here I'll set it down, you can do what you want with it."

He set it on the counter in front of her as he turned and leaned against it, surveying the store.

She studied the cup and asked, "So what is it?"

"You didn't seem the coffee type," he shrugged, taking a drink from his own cup, "so I went the green tea option the place offered. Oh, that reminds me,"

He rummaged through his pockets and pulled out some sugar packets, "I didn't know how sweet you take it, so I just grabbed a handful."

"Oh." she said as he placed the packets on the counter and turned back to the store, "Thank you."

He smiled and nodded.

She picked up the cup and took a slow drink from it. It wasn't bad. She snuck a glance at the green haired boy. Speaking of not bad…

He caught her looking and she looked away, blushing, and tried to distract him, "So! Um. I never caught your name. I'm Fuu."

He smiled at her, extending a hand for her to shake, "Nice to meet you, Fuu. I'm Ferio."

She took his hand, and smiled back at him.


	31. Prompt 11

**A/N:** Prompt: "Spy!AU"-The sender didn't specify for who, but there had been a trend of Fuu/Ferio prompts at the time so I assumed it was for them.

He had heard that the Phoenix was in town, possibly working the same job he was. He was sitting in a cafe, keeping an eye on his mark, when the thought of the fellow spy popped into his mind.

He had hoped, however, that it was just a rumor, just the informants getting antsy.

The last time he'd seen the petite blonde…well, you know what they say, 'What happens in Budapest…'

"Prince? Guru to Prince." A voice crackled in his ear. He rolled his shoulders before he reached to take a drink from his mug, "Yeah I hear ya, what's the word?"

"Turns out, our fears are a reality—" the voice said exasperatedly on the other end. Ferio watched the mark as they conversed with other figures from his organizations "Watch List."

"Did someone finally tell you how short you are? Because I thought I made it clear that I needed to be there when they did." Ferio interrupted, flipping open a newspaper.

"As always your jokes about my height are very refreshing," The voice deadpanned on the other end. Ferio smirked as he glanced briefly around the cafe.

The girl in the corner was kind of cute.

"But no, that wasn't it. It's about the Phoenix."

Ferio became very still, accidentally staring at girl in the corner of the cafe. She was wearing sunglasses, but she caught him staring and smiled.

He knew that smile.

"The Phoenix is—"

"She's here." He finished for the voice. The girl in the corner lowered her sunglasses to reveal deep green eyes.

He knew those eyes.

Her smile turned fiendish as she blew him a kiss before standing up and heading towards the exit.

He stood up quickly, throwing his paper aside.

"Do not engage! I repeat, Prince, if you see the Phoenix do not—"

Without thinking he pulled out his earpiece and tried to cut through the crowd of the cafe, never taking his eyes off her.

He saw her just reach the back door when he crashed headlong into a waiter.

He knocked the tray out of the man's hands, he tried to apologize even as the man berated him with insults, but he kept going towards her table.

She was long gone, but on her table was a napkin with a small note written on it:

"Better luck next time."


	32. Prompt 12

**A/N:** Prompt: "What happened doesn't change anything." = Emeraude/Zagato for the angst meme. Based in a Reincarnation!AU for Zagato and Emeraude.

She said it one night, as they're sitting together on the hood of his car, staring at the cosmos. He always got nervous staring at the sky, but with her sitting next him, the improbable nature of the expanding void, didn't seem too all-consuming. They sat there, holding hands, not speaking, until finally, very quietly, she said, "You know…what happened doesn't matter."

But he didn't know what she meant.

"It's just…" she tries to explain, "Deep in my soul, or deep in whatever makes me feel sure about things, I feel like I need to…to forgive you for something. But everything gets so…jumbled, and my memories feel like they're dreams and my dreams feel like they're memories, and you're there in all of them, and I keep feeling like…"

She trailed off and he let her.

Carefully, he kissed the back of her hand, and as he did, a different scene played behind his eyes (a garden, birds singing songs in tunes that don't sound like they come from birds, his brother in a tree, and her-standing near a column and looking at him with heartbreak in her eyes).

"I killed you."

The words fall out of his mouth and he can hear himself breaking after them.

Something sparked in her eyes and her mouth fell open.

He pulled his hand away from her, he can't touch her, he can't look at her.

She reaches out to touch him but he pulls away.

"I killed you." He says again.

"No." She says, and it's so forceful that he flinches from her, but she grabs his hand back from him and says it again, "No. You didn't. What happened doesn't matter."

He looks up to the sky.

"Look at me."

He brings his gaze back to her and chokes on sob as she holds his face and says it again, "What happened doesn't matter. All that matters is now. This time, this lifetime, this is the one that matters."


	33. Prompt 13

**A/N:** Prompt: Line: "I'm sick of being USELESS" for Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu. based in "The Year After"

The Year After was…difficult.

This was true for many reasons, but mostly because for part of it, Umi was abroad.

They understood that it wasn't too different from they're daily lives, what with going to different schools and living in different neighborhoods, but they had barely been managing to holding their sanities together with the weekly visits they managed. But Umi's parents noticed her listless nature and the sudden change in her demeanor and decided that an extended stay in Paris (like they'd talked about doing once Umi graduated) would be the best way to get her back to her usual self. It was a gesture done out of love, and when they presented their surprise to her, they had already made all the arrangements; what else could she do?

She only asked that her two friends be with her when she took off, and that they let her talk to them as often and for as long as she requested.

Her parents were confused about the emotional goodbye that their daughter shared with these two girls they hadn't really met before, but it was what Umi requested, and they obliged.

Time passed, they figured out things like video calls, and for a while, even though Fuu and Hikaru missed Umi terribly, it seemed like things were getting better.

Until one night.

"Hello?" Umi's voice called out from Fuu's computer as her camera loaded her image.

"Hello!" Fuu and Hikaru called in delighted unison, watching the screen.

Finally, Umi's face filled the screen, drenched in sunlight, and she grinned back at her friends, "Hi guys!"

"Hi Umi!" Hikaru squealed, waving frantically. Fuu laughed, "She's been texting me all day, making sure we were still on to see each other today and talk to you. We were just lucky that my parents hadn't decided to close off the guest wing of the house before we came back tonight."

Umi grinned, shifting around so that she could stretch out on her bed. Midafternoon light illuminated her small bedroom in the Parisian apartment that her family had rented, making her hair look a shade lighter than it was, "I'm sorry we couldn't talk sooner, Mom and Daddy have been running me ragged trying to see everything."

Fuu waved her away, "Oh don't worry about it, that just means there's more for you to tell _us_ about."

Umi smirked, "Isn't it getting close to you girls' bedtime?"

Fuu made a face at her, where as Hikaru gave her puppy eyes, "Aw, c'mon Umi, _please_?"

"Don't you do that to me, Hikaru." Umi warned, pointing at her.

Fuu giggled as Hikaru cranked up the adorable, " _Please_ , Umi? Pretty, pretty _please_?"

As Hikaru dragged out her last word Umi let out a disgusted sound and then exclaimed, "Fine, fine! I was only kidding anyway!"

Hikaru grinned and clapped her hands while Fuu chastised Umi, "Weak."

"Shut up." Umi responded, mock-grimacing at her, "For all my griping, I miss her dumb puppy eyes."

"We miss you too, Umi," Fuu said.

A quiet moment passed before, very carefully, Hikaru asked about what Umi had seen that day. For the next couple of hours, they were just three best friends talking about the sights and people of Paris that one of them had seen and about what the other two had done that day, and they joked and they laughed, and they got loud, and they were just teenage girls.

If only for a moment.

Over the course of their conversation, Hikaru and Fuu had moved towards the large bed in the room that they were occupying. Before Umi had left, this had been designated as "their" room, as it was big enough for the three of them to stay in, and was the only one with a big enough bed for the three of them to sleep in. Fuu rested her back against the foot of the bed as she sat on the floor, while Hikaru laid out on it, letting her head hang over the edge to look at the laptop screen that Fuu had placed on the floor so Umi could see them both.

Hikaru let out a wistful sigh, "I hope I get travel someday. Maybe the three of us could figure out how to all travel together!"

Fuu grinned at her, "Look out world, here we come."

Hikaru and Umi both giggled, but then Umi became quiet for a moment. Something shifted in her demeanor, so subtle that anyone else would have missed it.

"Umi?" Fuu asked, concern etching her face.

"Hm?" Umi replied, focusing her attention to something just off screen.

Fuu smirked nervously, "Something you'd like to share with the group?"

Umi let out a nervous chuckle, "Nah, it's nothing."

Hikaru rolled over so she was right-side-up again and gave her a stern look, "Umi."

Umi sighed, "It's just…do you…do you ever wonder about…?"

The name was left out, but both girls stiffened slightly at the unspoken word.

"Yeah." Hikaru said quietly.

None of the girls said anything for awhile after that until finally Umi let out a strained sob and glared at her ceiling, "God."

Something was glistening in her eyes as she squeezed them closed, "I'm sick of being _useless_."

"Umi…" Hikaru said weakly, her broken heart in her eyes.

"You think you're the only one?" Fuu said suddenly, anger in her voice and her own tears in her eyes.

"Fuu!" Hikaru gasped.

"I'm sorry." Fuu said, wiping at her eyes aggressively, "I know that that was rash and aggressive and we all know what you feel but _god_ , Umi. We're still trying. We don't have the same powers we had there, and we don't know when or even _if_ we'll get to go back there and help or atone for what we've done, and we can't ever tell anyone _here_ what we've been through, and everything is so loud and so _much_ that we don't even think we can keep going but we do. Every day. Every single goddamned _day_ we get up and we _try_."

A pause came as Fuu sucked on her lips and rolled her head back to look at the ceiling, and both Hikaru and Umi looked at Fuu with quiet surprise; she hardly ever swore, and the fact that she did so now only worried them further.

"I don't know if our trying means anything more in the grand scheme of things," she said, letting her head roll back down so she could look at Umi, "but I can at least tell you right now, for me, you are far from useless. Having you and Hikaru in my life this past year…you two have _saved_ me. Over and over again. We miss you so much, Umi, and we can't wait until you get home, and being away from you breaks my heart, but it breaks my heart even more that you would ever think you were useless."

After only a beat of silence Hikaru said, "We love you, Umi. And we are here for you, always."

New tears were in Umi's eyes as a smile spread across her face, "Together or not at all, right?"

Fuu and Hikaru grinned back and said in unison, "Together or not at all."


	34. Prompt 14

**A/N:** Prompt: "Fuu and Ferio and "Shit, are you bleeding?!""

They had only talked about it in passing, and only with Fuu reacting and then apologizing. In all honesty, she hadn't even been aware of her issue with touch she and Ferio became more serious. He would casually touch her and she'd pull away instinctively, and then would apologize profusely once she realized what had happened.

He would cool off of it, she'd forget about it, and then he would only touch her when she was aware of it.

And then there was the kitchen incident.

Fuu was in a kitchen at the palace, making her and Ferio some dinner after a surprisingly long delegation meeting.

Ferio had hung back a bit longer, to discuss something with Clef, Geo, and Chang Ang, so she went on a head to start making them something.

She was cutting up some of the native fruits that she had become fairly familiar with and was toying with the idea of doing a kind of Cephiran fruit salad, and mumbling to herself about the issues brought up in the meeting.

"I mean, of course I understand where Tarta and Tatra are coming from, and the tensions of colonization can't be helping them or Aska's dispositions, but if the issue is culture shock, surely there's…wait…how is this supposed to be cut?"

It was because of all of this that she didn't hear Ferio enter. He paused for a moment at the door, watching her. She was so concentrated on her task, but at the same time she was also juggling so many things all at once and he was constantly amazed at how gracefully she managed it all.

He smiled at her back and crossed the kitchen to stand behind her. He had planned to touch her back, and when she turned around, he would surprise her with a kiss.

Well, we all know what they say about the best plans of mice and men.

He had only just touched her back when her entire frame stiffened. Before he could get a word out she spun around and lashed out with the knife.

"Woah!" He exclaimed.

As he would joke later, he was very lucky that he was used to things attacking him, so he managed to dodge out of the way before any real damage was done.

"Wha—?! Ferio?" she yelled, looking from him to the knife in her hand until she finally dropped the knife, letting it clatter to the floor.

"Sorry, I was just trying to surprise you." He said, smiling.

"Well you certainly did!" She yelled back.

"Fuu, I'm sorry, can you stop yelling?"

"I'm not really sure!" she yelled again, gripping the counter behind her to try to keep herself steady.

"Fuu, I promise, I'm fi—,"

"Shit, are you bleeding?!" she interrupted, looking at some of the red that had began to seep through his shirt.

"Huh?" he looked down to try and judge for himself, pulling the shirt further from his skin, only to have his hands pushed away as Fuu began to examine him.

"Oh Gods, you are." She said breathlessly, "Okay, I can fix this."

"Nah, Fuu, don't worry about it," He tried to ease her. So much for stealing a moment away with his girlfriend.

"No, honestly it won't take anything." She insisted, beginning to move her hands like she does to do her magic.

He shook his head again, "Fuu, really, it's not anything, it's not even that deep."

"Ferio, don't argue with me on this." She said getting steely.

"Fuu—,"

"Ferio you will not have a scar that I caused!" She yelled over him, glaring at him now.

Stunned at her voice, Ferio stopped his protests and let her heal him. His wound healed, they stood in awkward silence, neither of them really looking at each other until Fuu grabbed the knife with shaking hands and tossed it into the sink.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly, not yet looking at him.

"For what?" Ferio asked.

"For…for slashing at you, for making you bleed, for yelling…I don't know what's wrong with me." She said, rubbing her eyes under her glasses.

Ferio shook his head and stood beside her, gently (yet very obviously so he would surprise her again) touching her shoulder, "No, Fuu, nothing's wrong with you. I was the one that surprised you. Look, I just won't randomly touch you anymore, not until you're okay with it."

She shook her head, "I don't want that, I want you to touch me. It's nice. It's comforting. I don't want you to stop."

Ferio chuckled, "I think for the sake of my wardrobe, we'll have to figure at least something out."

She smiled at him but didn't say anything back. They stood in contemplative silence for a moment.

"What if…" he said carefully, still lost in his head, "What if instead you randomly touched me? And then, slowly, I can start to return them, and eventually it won't matter who touched who when, we'll just be all over each other."

She laughed, "Right. Because that is the dream."

He grinned and nuzzled her, "Well, it's mine, at the very least,"

She turned her head and kissed him, "I think I can do that."

His grin widened as she grabbed a cube of fruit and popped into her mouth. She grabbed another one, and he opened his to let her feed him one as well.

She kissed his cheek and began to leave the kitchen.

Just as she was about to turn down the hallway, she paused, and turned back to him, "Not for nothing," she grinned, "but that's my dream too."

She hurried down the hallway before she could see the wide, ridiculous grin spread across his face.


	35. Strawberries Taste How Lips Do

**A/N:** Part of a fic swap with my dear ship mate Suzanami from two years ago. It's my version of Fuu and Ferio's first kiss.

She understood that he wanted to take it slow with her.

She understood that he wanted to court her, to do the prince thing right, since he saw her as such a lady.

She understood all of that and she admired that from him.

Respected him, in fact.

But…to put it delicately, she was beginning to grow…impatient.

This was the third delegate meeting she'd attended, meaning it had been about three months since Hikaru had abolished the Pillar system, and Fuu and the others had made several trips between those meetings, and Ferio had yet to do anything other than chastely hold and kiss her hand.

She looked across the circle of delegates to where the Prince was sitting and studied him. Hikaru sat in between herself and Umi. Hikaru seemed to be paying plenty of attention to each speaker, sneaking glances at Lantis, and Umi…well Umi seemed fairly bored, but she was at least taking notes.

Ferio sat next to the left of Clef, and to the right of Ascot, and was rubbing his chin in contemplation as Geo concluded the findings from Autozam.

Part of her wondered if maybe he was just humoring her, or that he didn't find her pretty enough to want to kiss her properly and was just delaying it.

There was, of course, no rational reason for her to think that.

He caught her looking and smiled at her, winking.

She blushed and looked way, smiling despite herself. She tried to focus on the Guru, who was bringing the meeting to a ceremonious close.

Well, okay, so maybe he didn't think she wasn't pretty.

But then what was he waiting for?

Did he think that _she_ didn't want to kiss him?

The thought hadn't occurred to her before, but upon it's genesis, she began replaying their interactions over in her mind.

"You know," a familiar voice said from her left, surprising her out of her thoughts, "I know the Guru's an engaging speaker, but I don't think he said anything that had the delegates glued to their seats,"

She glanced around the circle of chairs briefly, noticing they were long since emptied before she looked at the speaker and smiled at him, "Well then you clearly weren't paying close enough attention."

Ferio grinned at her, reaching over and taking her hand. He entwined their fingers together and kissed the back of her hand, "You know me, far too much going on in this mind to pay too much attention to what the long-winded Guru has to say."

She smiled at him and stood, tugging on his hand, "You should consider yourself lucky that he's already left. If he had heard that comment, you'd be on the receiving end of one of those 'long-winded' lectures."

He grinned at her, standing and following her as she led them towards the forest at the edge of the palace gardens. He ran his left hand over their entwined fingers, "Are you all right?"

She bit her lip at the question, "Why do you ask?"

He shrugged, "You didn't seem like you're usual, attentive self. You looked like you were worrying about something."

She bit her lip again.

He stopped on the path and tugged her arm so that she faced him. She studied the ground, avoiding his gaze.

He leaned down slightly to catch her eye, "Fuu? You don't have to talk to me about it. But I want you to—,"

She let go of his hand and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing his lips and interrupting him.

At first, he didn't know what to do, in fact, in an attempt to avoid doing something wrong, he stuck his arms straight out away from her.

She pulled away and took a step back.

She was bright red when she saw how dumbstruck he was.

"I-I'm sorry." She stammered, wringing her hands, "I shouldn't have done that. But you hadn't done anything and I've been…It just seemed like someone should—,"

He had closed the distance between them, placing one hand on her waist and another on her cheek, pulling her back to kiss her properly.

There was passion in the kiss that she hadn't been expecting, and her only reaction was to wrap her arms around his neck to make the kiss last as long as she could manage.

He pulled away slightly, resting his forehead against her, "I have been waiting to do that for _so long_."


	36. Virtues

**A/N:** Part of a drabble challenge from a couple of years ago

"Fuu, what do you like about Ferio?" Hikaru asked.

It was just her and Fuu in her room at the dojo. Fuu was reading a book while Hikaru dangled her head from her bed, seeing the world upside-down. Umi was running late, but they didn't mind the time together.

Fuu glanced over the edge of her book at Hikaru, surprised by the question. She was sitting in the doorway leading to the enclosed garden, a slight breeze rustling the leaves of the trees, halfway in the room and half out of it, and let the book fall against her chest, "Why do you ask, Hikaru?"

Hikaru shrugged, kicking her legs on her bed, "No real reason. I mean, I know you like each other, and your relationship began so smoothly and cleanly, but I don't think you ever really mentioned what you liked about him."

"Smoothly?" Fuu asked, smirking.

Hikaru nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah! I mean, your guys' connection was apparent immediately, and the balance you two have! Even in the Forest of Silence, where you were slipping he was covering you, and vice versa!"

Hikaru grinned when she noticed Fuu's blush, "It was kind of like watching a dance or something."

Fuu rolled her eyes, "Oh now you're just exaggerating."

"Am not!" Hikaru replied, sticking her tongue out at her friend and rolling over so she was right-side-up again., "Ask anyone else! They'll tell you the same thing."

Fuu rolled her eyes again, smiling.

There was a pause as Fuu stared absently out into the garden.

"C'mon, Fuu," she heard Hikaru quietly encourage her, "What're the Prince's virtues?"

Fuu giggled at her, and shook her head, "I don't know. I mean, it's like you said earlier; our relationship is…easy."

Hikaru arched an eyebrow at her, "Well that's a bit dull."

Fuu made a face at her, "I think you've been spending too much time watching those TV dramas with Umi. And I wasn't finished."

Hikaru held her hands up, conceding, then pretended to zip her lips closed.

Fuu rolled her eyes at her and sighed, "Like I said, it _is_ easy. And we do have some sort of connection that neither of us can explain. You know, even when our relationship isn't easy, and we fight and we try to avoid each other, it's like we just…can't. We always find each other. Now, for what I like about him, as he is…he makes me feel…normal. Even within the circumstances for our meeting, and our cultures clashing, and even my habits, he's never made me feel strange. He takes everything in stride. It's like…when I'm with him, it's just like I've been away from home for a while and while I was away, I picked up habits that he's not used to but he's willing to work with and around them."

She pauses, thinking over her words, and smiles, "That's what I like about him, Hikaru. When I'm with him, I feel like I'm home."


	37. Monsters Cannot Be Announced

**A/N:** Part of a drabble challenge from a couple of years ago

He was sitting on the floor in her room, back against her bed, and she was lying on her stomach on her bed. She was running her fingers through his hair as he read some paper work that Clef had given him. He was humming to himself as he scrawled something on the paper, when she vocalized her thoughts.

"You know, when I was younger, I was terrified of monsters."

He glanced over his shoulder at her, as she rolls over onto her back, still running her fingers through his hair, "Oh?"

She nodded, "Yeah. I was terrified of the dark. I saw shapes and creatures in the corner of my room. My mind terrified me. Ironic, huh? But you know, my mom handled it so well. She made me brave."

He set the scrolls aside, and pulled himself up onto his knees so that he could rest his arms on the bed, "What did she do?"

"She taught me how to fight monsters. According to her, monsters hate water, and the color green." She smiled, glancing at him and placing her hand back on his head.

He smirked at her, grabbing her hand from his head and kissing it, "Green, you say?"

She nodded, "As I grew up, she shifted from teaching me about the monsters I made up in my head, to teaching me how to defend myself against the monsters in people."

He gave her a confused look.

"You know how here, when people are angry, scared, or worried those emotions manifest themselves in monsters? Well on earth, there is no physical manifestation of those emotions. People, often, bottle them up until they themselves become a sort of metaphorical monster. People on earth can be very monstrous."

"But you always talk about how wonderful earth is." Ferio said, playing with her hand.

"The scars a person bears don't make them any less good." She said, tracing the scar across his nose.

His eyes softened and he grabbed her wrist, holding her hand in front of his face, and kissed her palm, "I'm only as good as the people around me."

She smiled, rolling onto her side and leaning towards him, "People need each other. My mother taught me that people need each other to balance themselves; to find their good and keep their bad in check."

She kissed his lips lightly, "I need you."

He climbed onto the bed, positioning himself so he was over her. She was giggling as he kissed her neck, "I need you too,"


	38. Prompt 15

**A/N:** Prompt: "Fuu and Ferio and "What's the worst that could happen?""

It had taken them the better part of the afternoon to get their hyperactive four year olds to calm down after their birthday party. They should've heeded the warnings about sugar and small children but, unfortunately, they feel prey to that terrible question, "What's the worst that could happen?"

The "worst that could happen" was that they had a horde of buzzed monsters running rampant over their house while they tried to run interference.

Now, well into the evening, after the rest of the children had left, their own children had been calmed down and put to bed, and their home reassembled, they collapsed, exhausted, into their bed.

Ferio started laughing tiredly, "That was–"

"Terrible." Fuu finished for him, rolling onto her side and resting her head on his chest.

He laughed again, reaching around her head and cupping her jaw to get her to look at him, "You said it, not me."

"Oh just kiss me already so I can go to sleep," She mumbled. He chuckled again and kissed her lips tiredly. It was only another moment before they were both asleep.


	39. Prompt 16

**A/N:** Prompt: Fuu/Ferio "War's End" Kiss, Kiss on the neck, or Giggly Kiss?

 **"War's End" Kiss**

After breaking through the Road, after fighting and burning to get to Hikaru and Eagle, after bringing them home and dissolving the Pillar system completely, Fuu wanted a few things.

A shower would've been nice–or another bath. Something to take away some of the tension deep in her muscles.

A nap would've been heavenly–it was an exhausting day after all, and there was a very real possibility that it was only going to get longer.

But flying down into Ferio's arms, she only wanted one thing. She felt his arms wrap around her waist to pull her close to him and she kept her arms around his neck. She kissed him–deep and desperate, and so, so relieved to be with him again. He must've felt it too, and because as soon as he understood what she was doing, he tightened his grip around her waist as if he was never going to let her go again.

And that was exactly what she wanted.

* * *

 **Kiss on the neck**

It was his favorite way to wake up. First he'd become conscious of the warmth from the sun on his skin. Then he'd register how comfy the pillow his head was resting on was, how soft the sheets, the sound of wind and birds in a tree somewhere on the other side of one of his windows. Then, after all that, he'd feel the warmth of another person pressed against his side, or resting half on top of him, smelling lilies and honeysuckle as her fingers traced across his skin.

Finally, after all those sensations came and went, there was just the gentle brush of her lips against his neck as she mumbled a "Good morning" to him, voice still a gentle rasp from sleep.

It's the best way to wake up.

* * *

 **Giggly kiss**

When she gets a little tipsy, she gets very giggly. And touchy as well. And lucky for him, both of those things get directed at him.

She swayed over to him, tugging on his hands, and giggling, "C'mon! Le's dance!"

"No, love, you're too drunk." Ferio laughed, climbing to his feet and wrapping his arms around her waist. He pulled her gently away from the rest of the party–usually if she was drunk enough to want to dance with him, she was getting too drunk to be safe at a party. He kissed her cheek as they walked.

"'M not that drunk," She grinned at him, almost not giggling but then something occurred to her and she couldn't contain herself.

"Of course you're not." He conceded, pushing open the door to their room and sitting her on the bed.

She was apparently sober enough to know what he was doing, and grabbed his hands to pull him on top of her as she fell back against the mattress.

She kissed him, still giggling, and a bit drunkenly, and mumbled, "You're a prince."

"I'm your prince." He chuckled back.

She laughed and kissed him again, "You're a nerd."


	40. Prompt 17

**A/N:** Prompt: Fuu/Ferio-Those Lips

Fuu never considered herself to be easily distracted. In fact, she's always prided herself with how focused she can be, and how easily she can concentrate when she needs to.

It's why she's such an excellent tactician, and student.

And then she met one Prince Ferio.

She'd tried to tell herself that her feelings for him were not going to influence her, that they wouldn't hinder her in anyway.

But.

Well.

You know how boring council meetings can be.

And he sits right across from her usually. She tries so hard to focus on the speaker that had the floor, to take notes about the new issues being discussed, to just listen, but as the meeting wears on, her eyes always wonder back to him.

His lips, specifically.

He's not doing anything specific with them, just…having them seems to be enough. He'll absently lick them while he thinks, or chew on them when he's losing interest, and all of it is just ridiculously distracting to Fuu who wants to be the best delegate she can be.

During those evenings, when the talks are done and wine's come out, she lets herself get a little tipsy and takes him with her to a nice, quiet corner and points an accusatory finger at him, "You…are very distracting."

He smiles at her, moving some of her hair out of her face, "Am I?"

She nods at him, "Mm. You know what's most distracting?"

"I'm sure you'll tell me."

She pressed her index finger to his lips, eyes falling to them as she spoke, "These."

"Hm." He hummed back, his own eyes falling to her lips, "Well what should we do about that?"

Instead of answering, she just kissed him, delighted when she felt him smile against her lips and pull her closer.


	41. It's Home Where You Hold Me

**A/N:** Prompt: Fuu/Ferio-"Sunlight on rumpled sheets and the smell of pine."

Her first real morning in Cephiro–her first _permanent_ morning–she refused to move from the bed.

She pulled the sheets of Ferio's bed tightly around herself, and rolled so that the sun warmed her.

Ferio had tried to pull her from the depths of the sheets when he'd gotten up to get breakfast, but she'd only tried to pull him back in with her. He'd kissed her, chuckling, and managed to free himself to go and get them some food.

She tried to fall back asleep but she mostly just studied the expanse of rumpled sheets where Ferio had been and the hills and valleys of sunlight that had taken his place.

There was a gentle breeze coming through one of the windows, bringing in the smell of the trees outside. Something about the scent reminded her of the year she and her family had traveled north towards the pines for Christmas. All at once she was feeling the warmth of the sun on her back and shoulders, with the memory of the bitter cold filling her up.

A twinge in her heart reminded her that she'd probably never know that smell again–or if she did it would never be as intimately as she had once known it.

She curled on to her side and into herself with the thought. There were many things that she'd never know again–her mother's voice, her sister's laugh, her father's gaze–and then there were the previous conveniences that she'd come to know and become accustomed to. Would she ever be home again?

Just as the thoughts started really spiralling and scaring her, a gentle touch on her shoulder and voice behind her pulled her back, "What are you thinking about?"

She turned towards the sound to see Ferio sitting on the edge of the bed, concern etched into his face. She reached up and touched his cheek, gently stroking the edge of the scar that ran across his nose.

There were many things that she'd miss about what had been home, but with him back and next to her, she realized that her home was wherever Ferio was.

She smiled, "Just that it's good to be home."


	42. Prompt 18

**A/N:** Prompt: Fuu/Ferio "Things you didn't say at all."

They say that "I love you" is hidden in a thousand different things people do for each other.

Neither Fuu nor Ferio have ever been aware of the fact that they've been saying "I love you" since their first encounter.

When Ferio corrects her stance to give her sword stroke more power, when he shows her how to properly defend against certain attacks to minimize the damage she takes, when he watches her at dinner to make sure she eats something–long before he ever kisses her, he loves her.

When Fuu makes sure he has a spot at the fire, when she grants him space to be loud and angry–because you can take the boy out of the wilds but not the wilds of boy–when she pulls her own tricks on him, and when she gets him to smile–she realizes she loves him long before she ever sees him again.

When they are reunited, there is too much that needs to be said to worry about what hasn't been said at all.

But when he strokes her cheek and asks about her lost weight, when she reprimands him for putting himself in danger, when their gazes find each other in every room they enter–it's unsaid but it's known.


	43. Prompt 19

**A/N:** Prompt: Fuu/Ferio "Things you said when you were crying"

There was a study done once, that Fuu read, where they examined the make-up of the different kinds of tears under a microscope.

Tears of "timeless reunion," of change, of "ending and beginning," of grief, and from laughing–she remembered being fascinated with the geometric shapes that made up tears.

She wondered if the things said when those tears are shed shapes them in some way. Her own words have always shaped things, whether she meant them to or not.

"Timeless reunion"–seeing him after not knowing if he lived or died, after fearing for him, only to learn that she was the cause of his deepest pain–the only word she could manage was his name. (The romantic in her wonders if maybe if when someone examines her tears from that moment, if they would see his name in the make-up) (She knows how impossible that is but it's cute idea)

Change–Umi crying when she thought no one could hear her when they first came to Cephiro, wanting to go home but terrified that she'd never get to. She remembered standing in the woods when he followed them, not sure where he was but knowing he was there and listening. Quietly, and while straining to keep her voice even, she said, "It's really not that bad." Gently, and so close it was as if he were standing next to her, he replied, "Of course it's not." It was enough to break what control she had over her own tears.

"Ending and beginning"–After they'd pulled Hikaru from the The Test, when she'd flown back into his arms, she remembered him holding her face and asking why she was crying, she'd laughed out a sob, "I don't know."

Grief–"I killed your sister."

Laughter–Ferio had done a rather excellent and exaggerated impression of Clef and a few of the other delegates and she'd laughed so hard, she'd cried. She'd also been a little tipsy so that didn't help matters, or her judgment when she'd barked, "I love you!" at him. A few awkward moments later, she caught up to why he was looked at her so bewilderedly, and blushed so hard it almost sobered her up. He'd kissed her cheek, mumbling, "You can't be drunker than me." She was only too willing to pretend that that hadn't happened–but every once in awhile, he'd catch her eye and grin at her as if he was remembering that moment. And a little bit of her hated him for it.


	44. Prompt 20

**A/N:** Prompt: Fuu/Ferio: "Apodyopis: The act of mentally undressing someone."

Fuu likes to pride herself on how difficult it is to distract her. She can be in a room, mitigating a disagreement between Umi and Clef, and still be able to focus on a trading plan for Fahren and Chizeta. She can be doing her homework when her sister's in one of her attention seeking moods, and not be deterred in the slightest.

And then she started to become involved with Ferio.

At first, she was still able to focus on other things besides his movements, his activities, his sighs–his existence in general. She was very good at taking notes during meetings, even as he discretely placed a hand on her thigh, or moved to take her nonwriting hand in his to squeeze from time to time; all she'd do was smile at her paper, as small an acknowledgement as she would allow herself of his touch.

And then, and she's still not sure how this happened or when, but her eyes and mind had slowly started to _wonder_.

She'd watch him move, whether it was just walking the gardens, practicing his swordsmanship, even just stretching; and her mind would race.

 _Getting rid of those ridiculous bangles and that cape, pulling up his shirt to explore the scarred body beneath, finding a hidden place–_

"See something you like?" Ferio grinned at her, reaching for the jug of water after training with Lafarga. He was shirtless for this bout of training, which had only exacerbated her wondering mind.

Fuu had hoped that she hadn't been staring, but with her new distractibility came a loss of subtlety. She blushed as he smirked at her around his long drink of water, before managing to answer, "A few things."

He arched an eyebrow at her, as she carefully said, "I'd be happy to tell you all about it later."

He grinned and kissed her quickly, saying, "I look forward to it,"

With that, he went back to his training, and Fuu indulged in her fantasies a little while longer.


	45. Someone New

**A/N:** Fic exchange between Suz and myself. The prompts that I combined for this were: "Baisemain: A kiss on the hand" and "They're going to hate me." Set in a Blind Date!AU that I came up with.

Fuu fidgeted with her skirt for the fifth time since she and Umi had left the apartment, mumbling to herself about how she can't believe how impractical she's being with this skirt, and maybe they should go back so she can change.

Umi sighed and grabbed one of Fuu's fidgeting hands, "We are not going back, we're halfway there–will you calm down? Everything's going to be fine!"

Fuu gave her a smile that she hoped was pacifying but from the look on Umi's face, she could tell that she wasn't buying it.

Umi gave her hand a squeeze, "Will you relax? Just little? What's the worst that could happen?"

"They're going to hate me." Fuu said simply, dismissively, even shrugging to complete the air of noncommitment she was striving for.

Umi stopped short, tightening her grip on Fuu's hand so that she stopped with her, and held Fuu's face in her hands so she'd look her in the eyes.

"Fuu."

"Yes?" Fuu responded nervously.

"You are the best friend I have and one of the greatest people I know." Umi said gravely, "You are also a stone cold fox."

Fuu felt a giggle bubble out of her before she could stop it and tried to look just to the left of Umi in her embarrassment.

Umi kept her grip firm on Fuu's face, and moved her head slightly to make sure she was looking her in the eyes again, "Now I don't know much about this guy, other than he's a pretty good friend of Ascot's–but I _do_ know that if he's dumb enough to miss all of that after tonight, then he's not worth either of our time. Okay?"

Fuu fidgeted for a moment, prompting Umi to ask again, " _Okay_?"

Finally Fuu nodded, "Okay."

Umi grinned and let Fuu's face go in favor of grabbing her hand again as they walked to the bar. Fuu continued, "Okay, but if he ends up thinking I've over dressed I'm gonna blame you."

Umi just chuckled and rolled her eyes, "That's fair."

[Break]

Ferio tugged at his tie for the fifth time since they sat at the bar, grumbling to himself about how he couldn't believe he'd let Ascot talk him into wearing the damn thing and that he was going to strangle him with it.

Ascot smacked his hands away from the tie, "You're not gonna strangle me, but I might strangle _you_ if you don't stop messing with that!"

Ascot fixed the tie for the sixth time since they sat at the bar as Ferio growled back, "Well what the fuck am I even doing _wearing_ this stupid thing? I am not a tie guy."

"It's a date, dumbass," Ascot replied simply, going back to his beer, "Usually people on dates try to put a little _effort_ into their appearance."

"Yeah. And you only care about my appearance when it has something to do with you. What's wrong? Afraid they're going to hate me?"

Ascot rolled his eyes, "And what could they have to hate about you? You've got such a _sparkling_ personality."

They glared at each other for a moment before Ferio indignantly started to loosen the tie from around his neck a bit. Ascot just sighed and rolled his eyes at him but refused to do anything to fix the tie. Feeling a bit victorious, Ferio finally turned to his own beer back at the bar.

After a couple of drinks, he turned to Ascot, "So what's this chick's deal, anyway? How come I haven't met her before?"

Ascot shrugged, "Just never came up I guess."

Ferio narrowed his eyes at him, "Uh-huh. And you and Umi both think this friend and I are going to get along?"

Ascot smirked, "Oh-ho yeah. Definitely."

Ferio narrowed his eyes further at him, "I don't like when you get that look."

"What look?" Ascot asked, feigning innocence.

Ferio was about to answer when Umi came swooping in and wrapped her arms around Ascot in greeting, "Hi!"

Ascot grinned and hugged her back, "Hey, there you are!"

Umi turned in Ascot's arms to look at Ferio, "Well! Look what you brought!"

Ferio faked a laugh, "Yes, and what did _you_ bring?"

"Fuu? She's…" Umi looked passed him towards the door, only to sigh, "Hang on; she's a little nervous."

Ferio frowned briefly, as Umi walked passed him, mumbling to Ascot, "Always a good sign."

Ascot lightly smacked him upside the head, "Would you stop that? Fuu's a sweet girl; don't be a dick."

"I am not–!" Ferio started.

"Sorry about that!" Umi grinned, interrupting him, "Ferio, this is Fuu."

Ferio turned his gaze to the blonde standing next to Umi and tried not to gawk. She was a slight thing, her bright green eyes were hidden slightly behind her wide glasses, and she kept nervously glancing from him to the floor and blushing deeply.

And Ferio fell in love instantly.

Umi and Ascot exchanged knowing looks, before Ascot stood from his chair to offer it to Fuu, and paid for the first round of drinks between them.

[Break]

Fuu was nervous and markedly untalkative at first, but Ferio was patient and willing to wait until she was comfortable enough to talk with him. She didn't drink much, but what she did drink seemed to help that process right along.

It wasn't that long, really, before she was laughing at his jokes, making a few of her own, and casually–flirtatiously–touching him.

And Ferio was over the moon about it.

Umi and Ascot had come to them about three hours in, and had said that they were headed out. Umi had given Fuu a meaningful look, as if this was something that they had discussed prior to the date, but Fuu had just grinned at Umi and told her that everything was fine, and that she'd like to stay a little longer.

Ferio had hardly been able to form the proper words to let Ascot know that he'd do the same. Fuu had just given him this small, sly smile as he fumbled, which didn't make it any easier.

Before they knew it, it was last call, and Fuu finally conceded that it was probably time to call it a night. Ferio offered to walk her home and she'd smiled, "I'd like that."

They walked in silence for a moment, before slowly, and as if through a will of their own, their hands found each other. The second her fingers brushed his palm, he opened his hand further to entwine their fingers. He snuck a glance at her to see her blushing and smiling as she watched the sidewalk as they walked.

"So, uh, did you have fun?" Ferio asked, and immediately kicked himself over how lame of a line that was.

She giggled, "I did. You're really quite good company. Umi hadn't mentioned that."

Ferio smiled, "Well I don't know how much of a judge of my character she could be; we've never really spent much time together. Usually she and Ascot are…otherwise preoccupied."

Fuu laughed outright at that. There was another pause before Fuu nervously asked, "What about you? Did you have fun?"

They had reached her apartment building door. He seemed to consider the question for a moment before turning her hand in his and kissing the back of it. He looked at her face and grinned at the deep blush that had appeared in her cheeks.

"I had a wonderful time. Can we do it again sometime?"

Fuu nodded emphatically.


	46. Prompt 21

**A/N:** Prompts for Fuu/Ferio: "Kiss me"; "Hey, I'm with you, okay? Always."; "You need to wake up because I can't do this without you."; "I got you a present."; "Have I entered an alternate universe or did you really just crack a smile for me?"

"Kiss me."

She's drunk when she says it. Ferio knows she's drunk. Her friends know she's drunk (where are they? They'd been watching her so carefully all night that he'd hardly had a chance to speak to her. They'll be looking for her soon, if they aren't already) and even if they weren't at a party, everyone else in the room would know that she's drunk too.

But Fuu's drunk and leaning on _him_ and she smells so _nice_ and she's so _close_ and a strand of her hair has fallen into her eyes and if he just reached out and tucked it behind her ear and let that touch linger for just a moment–

"No, darlin', you're too drunk." He says instead, righting her when she stumbles as he leads her to a place to sit. He regrets it almost immediately, but he knows it's the right thing to do.

This isn't the right moment.

Her hands cling to his arms as she sits until his hands are in hers. She tugs at them, whining, "Don't leave."

He shakes his head and sits next to her, wrapping a careful arm around her shoulders, "I'm not going anywhere."

* * *

"Hey, I'm with you, okay? Always."

She says it to him over the phone the night his sister dies. She's grabbing her coat and keys, pressing the phone to her hear hard enough that she might be trying to unconsciously force her way through it to him.

All she can hear is his breathing and it's ragged and wet and gasping. She doesn't remember the drive to his place, she just remembers saying it over and over to him as she did. She doesn't knock when she finally arrives, she remembers where he keeps the spare (under that ridiculous gnome decoration that his sister had given him a few christmases ago as a gag gift) and let herself in.

She finds him sitting in the middle of the kitchen, just staring at the spot in front of him on the floor, the phone in his hands, still counting the seconds since he called her and told her what happened.

She crouches in front of him and moves her head to try to catch his eye.

"Ferio?" She whispers, but in the silence of his apartment it sounds more like a shout, or a brick through a plate glass window.

He looks at her and it's as if everything finally connects in his mind; there's a spark in those luminous gold eyes that usually are so full of life and mischief. It doesn't last as he reaches for her and wraps his arms around her neck and cries.

No.

Not "cries."

Weeps.

One violent tremor after another, like thunder in a storm, and she thinks about counting the seconds between them to see if maybe it will tell her when it will stop but it doesn't have to tonight.

She rubs his back and keeps saying, "I'm here. I'm here with you. I'm with you. Always."

* * *

"You need to wake up because I can't do this without you."

He grunts and buries his face in the pillow, "Yes you can."

She huffs next to him and nudges him with her face again, "It's a 'meet the parents' dinner, Ferio. And since they're _my_ parents, I'm pretty well acquainted with them."

"Can't we just reschedule?" He asks, still keeping his face firmly buried in the pillow, though the gentle rub of her toes on his calf was slowly becoming increasingly distracting.

"We've rescheduled the last _three_ times!" She protests, shifting on the bed next to him so that half of her body was on top of him. She kisses his shoulder, "At some point they're going to start thinking we're avoiding them, and then they won't like you, and then they won't support our relationship and then where will we be?"

"Blissfully indifferent to your parents' opinion while we spend an entire Saturday in bed?" Ferio offers, finally rolling his head from the pillow to smirk at her.

She glares at him for a long moment before he finally sighs and rolls over, pulling her with him so that she settles on top of him. He kisses her neck, mumbling into her skin, "Fine. But I think we're going to be an hour late."

He could hear the smile in her voice as she says, "You drive a hard bargain; but I'm willing to take that compromise."

* * *

"I got you a present."

He eyes her suspiciously. Whatever it is, she's trying to hide it behind her back, and has a very dangerous smile on her face. It's just before winter break and they haven't spoken much since the drunken, "Kiss me" incident. But she's here now, and while he's just relieved that nothing's seemed to really changed between them, he also knows her.

"Is this like a Santa kind of present, or like a 'I'm trying to get evidence out of my hands' kind of present?" He asks.

She at least has the good grace to feign insult, "Why the Santa kind! I can't even imagine what would make you think it was something nefarious! It's the season of giving!"

His skepticism doesn't falter. He arches an eyebrow at her.

Finally, her annoyance at his doubt overrides her wiliness and she stamps her foot, "Would you stop looking at me like that and just _trust_ me?"

He rolls his eyes, "Fine, fine. So what is this present?"

Her smile comes back instantly, "Close your eyes."

This earns her font row seats to "Skepticism: The Return."

She glares back, "I don't have to give you _anything_ , you know."

He sighs but finally complies. He feels something leafy being carefully pressed into his hand before hearing her voice again, "Okay! You can open them now!"

He does and looks at his hands, confused when he finds a sprig of a plant he feels like he should recognize with white berries.

He starts to look back up at her, "What is–"

Before he can get the question out, her mouth is slanted over his in a nervous kiss, and when he opens his mouth a little wider in surprise, she takes eager advantage. She pulls away after a moment, grinning to herself mostly when she sees his shocked but not unhappy face.

"Merry Christmas."

* * *

"Have I entered an alternate universe or did you really just crack a smile for me?"

She bites her lips to make herself stop and answers indignantly, "No."

"No I'm not in an alternate universe or no you didn't really just crack a smile for me?" He asks, his self-satisfaction annoyingly clear in his features.

They've been working together for the better part of the semester as very reluctant lab partners. Well, reluctant on her part. She apparently took one look at him the first day of Chem. 101 and immediately deemed him "too childish to be trusted" and had let him know it all year.

He, in turn, had made it his personal mission to get her laugh or at least smile at something he did.

And he was finally successful.

Even if she hadn't admitted it yet.

She glares at him, "No I didn't smile."

His own grin widens, "Yes you did."

She glares harder at him, " _No._ I _didn't_."

"Hey everyone!" Ferio yells, not breaking eye contact with her. He watches as her face turns bright red, letting him know that everyone in the class is looking at them, "I finally got her to smile!"

The two friend he has in the class smile, laugh, and applaud, until the professor exasperating exclaims, "That's very fascinating, Mr. Ferio, but the rest of us are more interested in the chemistry from the textbook than between you and Ms. Hououji, so if you don't _mind_ …"

Her face stays bright red for the rest of the class.


	47. Badass Over Here

**A/N:** Part of a drabble challenge from a couple years ago

"Fuu I want to come home." Umi said over the phone. Fuu sat on her bed, next to her window. Rain pattered against it gently.

Fuu smiled at the phone, "Oh Umi…"

"I know, I know. This is an irreplaceable experience, and we're in the city of art and culture, and I'm living the dream I've had since I was six, but I just…I really miss you." The sadness that laced her voice made Fuu pull her knees up to her chest and wrap her free arm around them.

"I miss you too." Fuu said, quietly.

Umi coughed on the other end, but it was in a way that Fuu knew that was to disguise a sob.

Umi sniffed, "I miss Hikaru, too. And my parents. And Cephiro."

"Hikaru misses you too. She's started a count down to when you come home." Fuu said, trying to lighten the mood.

Umi laughed, "Of course she has. What's it stand at now?"

"18 days, three hours, and…" Fuu glanced at the clock on her nightstand, "thirty-two minutes."

Umi laughed again, "So clearly it's not just Hikaru."

Fuu chuckled. The rain began to come down harder and the wind had picked up. She commented about it to Umi.

"Is it? It hasn't rained here since I arrived." Umi commented.

Fuu turned around on her bed so she's facing her window and watching the rain more fully, "It looks like the rain and the wind are dancing."

"Dancing?" Umi asked, her incredulousness laden in her voice.

"Yeah. You know how you can see the wind rush across the surface of water? Like ponds, or lakes? How it makes the water ripple?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, the wind's so strong, it's making the rain fall differently where the gusts of wind hits the droplets. It's quite beautiful really."

There was a pause.

"You know," Umi said tentatively, "I never really thought about how entwined water and wind were until after Cephiro. And when we became friends."

"I know what you mean," Fuu said, lying down onto her bed.

There was another pause.

"God, I miss Ascot. I even miss The Midget." Umi said on the other end, her voice lightening.

"Now, Umi, I don't think the Guru appreciates being called 'The Midget'." Fuu mockingly chastised.

"I don't care what he wants to be called, the name stays. Someone has to knock his ego down a few pegs." Umi replied, her voice fluctuating. Fuu could see her in her Parisian apartment, probably standing on the balcony now.

"Well, it's a good thing you're in his life to provide that service for him." Fuu commented, giggling.

"I am a gift!" Umi exclaimed, her own voice light with laughter.

The girls giggled for a moment before Umi continued, "You know, a boy asked me out yesterday."

Fuu gasped mockingly, "What? A foreign boy, asking a beautiful tourist out? We must alert the church elders!"

"Oh stop it. I'm beginning to think I've been a negative influence on you." Umi laughed on the other end.

"Well, back to the boy at hand; I imagine that you turned him down, or else you'd have mentioned it sooner." Fuu said letting her leg dangle over the edge of her bed as the wind made the rain pelt her window.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted." Umi confessed, "It's just…gah it's been so long since I've been on a date! How do you and Ferio do it? You two haven't seen each other since I've been gone, how do you stand it?"

Fuu thought about it.

Of course she missed Ferio deeply.

And she ached to be with him again as soon as she could.

So, as Umi put it, how did she do it?

Absently, she spun the golden ring on her finger that he had given her.

 _I believe in you. So, that means you must come back to me._

"We believe in each other. I can stand not being with him, because I know he misses me as much as I miss him." Fuu said simply.

Umi groaned on the other end of the phone, "God, is there anything you two do that isn't just perfect?"

"Shadow puppets." Fuu said, making herself serious, "We just can't get the schematics right."

Umi laughed.

Fuu rolled her head on her bed to look at the clock again, "I hate to bring the mood down, but we've been talking for a while, and I did promise to meet up with Hikaru today."

"Sisterly bonding?" Umi joked. When the three of them talked about hanging out together, they had taken to calling it "sisterly bonding," playing off of how they had decided so easily that the three of them were meant to be sisters.

Fuu smiled, "Yes. Apparently Kakeru-sama is cooking and I've been invited to dinner."

"You give our little sister a big hug for me." Umi commanded.

Fuu laughed, sitting up, "I promise."

There was a pause where neither of them moved to truly end the conversation.

"Our little sister…" Umi seemed to whisper.

"Umi?" Fuu asked.

"Oh, nothing it's just…you know, before the whole Pillar thing during the Second Round," Umi sighed, using the name they'd agreed to use when they talked about their second trip to Cephiro, "I had thought that we were just so protective of Hikaru because she's so small, and innocent, and has just this great big heart and deserves all these great things. I thought we were just reacting to that but now…do you…"

There was another pause.

"Umi?" Fuu prompted again.

"Well do you…do you think that the reason you and I were and are so protective of her is because we, on some level, as Magic Knights, knew what she was going to become?" Umi rushed the end of the question.

Fuu sat there, stunned, before saying, "That's a loaded question Umi."

Her friend laughed on the other end of the phone, "Yeah I know. But I felt like I was hiding something from you by not asking about it."

Fuu paused again, gathering her thoughts before she began to carefully answer her question, "You know, I've been entertaining the idea of a sort of reincarnation when it comes to the mashins or the Pillar. As if…part of those souls were taken and used to build the souls of the Magic Knights and future Pillars. I have no way to test this, of course, and there's no real way of knowing, but if there's any weight to our theories, then it might be true."

Umi was silent, letting all that sink in.

"But." Fuu said, smiling at the phone, "I also think that we three are bound in our own way to each other. I don't know what would have happened at Tokyo Tower that day if we hadn't been summoned to Cephiro, but I'm beyond confident that we'd have entered each other's lives in one way or another."

She heard Umi let out a short breath, a sign she was smirking, "Together or not at all, right?"

Fuu grinned, "Together or not at all."


	48. Prompt 22

**A/N:** Prompt: "Softness, lullaby, stars" for Umi, Hikaru, and Fuu

Hikaru's house had the most open space.

The property that to doujo was on was large and not all of it had been built on, so during the summer, when Umi and Fuu would spend the night there, they'd sleep outside.

Something about sleeping under the stars again made them feel very much at peace, and like they were back in a magical world that they had grown to love.

They'd lay out their sleeping bags right next to each other, attempting to mimic the large bed they would share, with Hikaru in the middle, and Fuu on her left and Umi on her right.

They would watch the stars for as long as they could stay awake, talking sometimes; Fuu liked to show them the constellations and tell them the stories of the stars.

The softness of the grass below them and the gentleness of the breeze that would keep them cool often lulled them to sleep sooner than they usually preferred, but they never fought the urge when it surfaced.

Usually, Hikaru was the first to feel it and when it would hit her, she'd curl up against Umi and ask Fuu to sing them lullabies.

Fuu would roll over on to her side and smile at them both, taking their hands in her own and she would hum gently.

Soon, Umi would join her and they would sing together until they all fell asleep, still clinging to each other.


	49. Prompt 23

**A/N:** Prompt: Emeraude/Zagato High School!AU

Honestly, no one is surprised when they reveal that they've been dating.

They are surprised, however, by how old fashion they are about it. When asked how long they've been together, they always start with, "Well we've been going steady for…"

Their biggest display of public affection was when she kissed his cheek in the cafeteria, making him blush so hard, his ears turned red. She wears his letterman's jacket and they exchanged class rings.

Basically, they were the cutest couple at school.


	50. Prompt 24

**A/N:** Prompt: Umi/Ascot Dark Times!AU (which is an AU I made up where things are kind of the same except instead of the girls using their grant powers for good, they use them for evil)

They are myth figures, sometimes seen dancing at the places where the forest meets the sea. There is a fear of those places; the ocean has always been unpredictable but when it takes the form of a beautiful girl with hair the color of sea foam and eyes like where the sky and water meet, there isn't a made alive who will not be drawn to her and who will not be crushed by her.

But they fear even looking at her because of the Wild Boy who loves her and who, if she asked, would feed their hearts to the great and powerful beasts that follow him.

The country crumbles and falls away, and she does nothing to stop it.

They are too busy singing and dancing to know the world has ended.


	51. Prompt 25

**A/N:** Prompt: Fuu/Ferio "Political Marriage!AU"

They are the power couple of the country. It does not take long for the people to know that it is not as simple as "politician and his little wife" or "puppet master and her puppet."

The people see and know that they are a team in everything they do and in every decision they make. The country sees it's greatest time of peace under their guidance.


	52. Prompt 26

**A/N:** Prompt: Lantis/Hikaru/Eagle "Pirates!AU"

"Long live the Queen!" her men roar as she and her crew stand as the last ship standing after another bloody battle. The two who started the rallying call stand proudly at her sides as the rest of the crew stomp their feet, holler, and rush to the lower decks for the rum.

She grins up at her two companions, a knowing gleam in her eyes.

It's good to be the Queen.


	53. Prompt 27

**A/N:** Prompt: "Fuu is the office-admin person and Ferio's the mechanic in the company's garage! (Because Fuu in a suit and Ferio in oil and overalls?)"

Fuu crossed her arms as she stood in the garage's doorway, "You're telling me I have to wait until tomorrow to get my car back?"

Ferio, the mechanic, nodded as he wiped his forehead, "I'm telling you it'll be tomorrow if I don't have any distractions,"

He made a point to give her a once over as he said the word "distraction."

She smirked at him, "With distractions?"

He grinned at her, "I guess we'll see."


	54. Prompt 28

**A/N:** Prompt: All the girls work in an animal sanctuary!

"Hikaru?" Fuu called, scanning the crowd. They had just opened their new animal sanctuary, and the crowd was impressive. Umi greeted people as they entered, while Fuu and Hikaru did crowd control around the animals.

Hikaru, however, had disappeared.

"Hikaru?" Fuu called again, a bit louder this time, she began navigating her way through the crowd, keeping an eye out for the spunky red head.

"…you can't tell anyone I let you in here, okay?" she heard her friend's voice say as she passed the dog play area.

She looked into the room to see that Hikaru had amassed a small collection of children, all of whom were watching Hikaru intently as she explained "being friends with" the dogs, and what it means to respect animals.

It would have been touching, if it weren't for the fact that Hikaru was giving this lecture under a pile of dogs that had all lain down on her.


	55. Prompt 29

**A/N:** Prompt: Clef is a librarian. Umi keeps being noisy to get his attention. (an maybe his number)

It was a slow day at the library, which, while not unusual, was something that Clef appreciated.

The only other person there was a blue haired girl who had grabbed a stack of books on various subjects, and was now listening to some sort of music device.

He paid her no mind, until she began to open a bag of chips.

Once he heard the crinkle of the bag, he immediately looked at her. She was wincing, and appeared to be trying to open the bag slowly, as if that would minimize the noise.

He arched an eyebrow at her as she continued to try to open the bag, until she glanced at him, saw he was staring at her, blushed, and then tried to open the bag like a normal person.

Which caused her to open the bag so fast that it split in two, sending the chips everywhere.

"Fuck!" she yelled, then covered her mouth, blushing a deeper red than before.

Clef chuckled as she began to try to clean up the explosion of chips.

As she climbed under the table, he walked passed it, setting a slip of paper on her notebook.

He wondered if she would call him once her embarrassment passed.


	56. Privacy

**A/N:** From a shipping week prompt from last year for Fuu and Ferio

There is no privacy in the castle.

No _real_ privacy, anyway. That was something that she had to adjust to once she moved there permanently. Back on Earth, back in her parents' home, if she needed a moment, she could just slip away. There were a few rooms that weren't usually used that she liked to slip into, or even just somewhere around the house; she was often very good at finding a place to hide away for a moment.

In the castle, it seemed like even when she found her place, she wasn't really alone. It wasn't that someone was always or that someone always found her, but there wasn't the feeling of genuine calm and privacy in those places like there would be back on Earth.

She'd expressed this agitation to Ferio once before and she had asked him what he did for privacy.

He shrugged, "The trees."

She gave him an incredulous look, "I don't think I'm gonna touch that one."

He tossed a nut that had fallen from the tree they had been sitting under at her. She laughed, brushing it away.

"I _meant_ that I usually climb the trees when I want some time to myself." He quipped.

She sighed, "I don't think I could reach the height I'd want to be alone."

He grinned at her leaning towards her for a kiss, "You just need more practice."

She giggled, leaning in to it, "Then it's a good thing I have an _excellent_ teacher."


	57. Public Display of Affection

**A/N:** From a shipping week challenge from last year, based off of a piece of fanart that Suz had done.

"Don't we look nice today." A familiar voice chirped behind him.

Ferio bit back his smile as he replied over his shoulder, still looking forward towards the door that Clef had _drilled_ into him was the one he needed to walk through in order to make the right entrance, "Looking nice and _feeling_ nice are two very different things. I don't understand how Lantis and the others do it."

She stood just behind him, her right shoulder pressing into his left, "Practice, I'd assume. Anything I can do to help?"

He chuckled, "Not unless you've got a change of clothes or a way out of this."

"No, getting you out of those clothes comes later," she quipped, mischief dripping from her words.

"Wait, what?" Ferio asked, about to turn to look at her.

"Eyes front, Prince." She instructed, not even bothering to hide her smirk.

He looked back ahead, just as Clef was beginning his announcement, and received a startling pat on the ass from Fuu, just before the doors opened.

"Go get'em tiger," she whispered, disappearing behind him.


	58. Time

**A/N:** Part of a shipping week challenge from last year for Fuu and Ferio.

She knows times moves differently in Cephiro, but she wanted to tell Ferio about what the science of earth told her about time.

"In space," she said, "there are things called black holes, where everything disappears."

"Sounds terrifying," he quipped, lying in the grass with his head in her lap.

"It is," she agreed, "and scientists theorize that around a black hole, time slows."

"Like here?" he asked, referring to all the times she had noted how time moved differently in Cephiro.

"Kind of," she replied, "they also theorize that inside a black hole that time stops all together."

"Why do you people keep _finding_ these things?" Ferio asked.

Fuu laughed, "I don't know. Too many questions to be left unanswered? Always hunting for the Cosmic Why?"

He shook his head, studying the play of light through the leaves, "Why are you telling me about this?"

She shrugged, "I don't know. I guess because I heard a poet say once that inside a black hole would be the perfect place to love someone, metaphorically."

He grinned at her, "I think we've already found that place."

She just chuckled and kissed him.


	59. Prompt 30

**A/N:** Prompt: Caldina/Lafarga, highschool AU (football player / cheerleader?!)

"Woo! Go team!" Caldina cheered enthusiastically from the sidelines, throwing her pompoms high into the air.

"Hey Lafarga, isn't that your girlfriend?" Lantis, another player on the team asked, nudging him in the side as he nodded towards the cotton-candy pink cheerleader.

Lafarga nodded.

"Does she know it's just practice?" Lantis asked, smirking.

Lafarga blushed as he nodded again, Caldina grinning broadly and waving at him.


	60. Prompt 31

**A/N:** Prompt: Fuu/Ferio (AU where both are Earth peoples). pumpkins! and! my instinct is to make Fuu like Hween and Ferio hate it but I challenge you to write Fuu hating Hween and Ferio loving Hween.

"Fuu! Fuu, come in here!" Ferio yelled from the kitchen, letting the two pumpkins he brought home thump onto the kitchen table. He laid out some newspaper on the table before rummaging through a drawer for knives and spoons.

Fuu came into the kitchen and immediately started glaring at Ferio, "What are those."

Ferio grinned, "Pumpkins! I thought we could carve them for Hallo—"

"No." Fuu cut him off.

Ferio looked as if he'd been struck, and immediately went for "kicked puppy" eyes, "Why?"

Fuu crossed her arms, "Because pumpkin carving is messy and gross, and Halloween is just an excuse for people to vandalize places and be drunk and rude and I don't want to encourage it."

"You just described most of my personality traits." Ferio pointed out coolly.

Fuu shifted, "I didn't…that's not what I meant."

Ferio placed his hands on her shoulders, "Then just give it a try. You love me right? Even though I'm rude, and like to be drunk, and vandalize places?"

She sighed, rubbing her forehead, "Yes, I love you."

He kissed her forehead, "So you'll carve pumpkins with me?"

She smiled, "Fine, yes, I'll carve pumpkins with you. But _you_ have to clean up after."

He beamed at her, "I accept those terms! This'll be fun, I promise."

And, despite herself, Fuu _did_ have fun.


	61. Prompt 32

**A/N:** Prompt: Eagle/Lantis/Hikaru haunted house

"Let's go to there!" Hikaru exclaimed, pointing towards the haunted house as they walked near the exit of the amusement park. They'd been there all day, and the haunted house was the last thing to do.

Lantis and Eagle stilled at the same time as they looked at the entrance of the haunted house.

Lantis spoke first, "I don't think that's such a good idea."

Hikaru pouted at him, "Why not?"

Eagle smiled at her, "Lantis doesn't like jump scares."

Lantis glared at him, "That's not true."

Hikaru beamed at him, "I can hold your hand if you want."

"I don't like jump scares either," Eagle said quickly.

Hikaru beamed at them both, "If I agree to hold your hands, will you guys go to the haunted house with me?"

Eagle grinned back at her, taking her hand, while Lantis just glowered and did the same.


	62. Prompt 33

**A/N:** Prompt: Caldina/Lafarga both are supernatural creatures?

"Caldina? I need you to listen to me, okay? I have something important I need to tell you." Lafarga said, looking at her seriously from across the kitchen table.

"You're pregnant." Caldina replied, looking up at him from her plate.

Lafarga rolled his eyes at her but smirked, "Not exactly."

She reached across the table and grabbed his hand, "Out with it, Sugar; I'm sure it's not that bad."

Lafarga squeezed her fingers and sighed, "I'm a werewolf."

There was a pause, the words seeming to land on the kitchen table in front of them, before Caldina laughed. Hard. She threw her head back and tears started to appear in her eyes.

Lafarga glowered at her, "What's so damn funny?"

She wiped at her eyes before reaching over and taking his hand again, "Oh, oh baby, I'm sorry. It's just…I'm a succubus."


	63. Prompt 34

**A/N:** Prompt: Ascot/Umi watching a horror movie

"Oh that's horribly unrealistic," Umi commented, taking a few bites of popcorn. She shifted so that her legs were over Ascot on the couch and her ankles rested on the armrest.

She pointed to the screen, "Who walks into a house that has no power and decides to stay there? No one, that's who."

Ascot stayed quiet, as Umi mumbled, "Girls who gon' die, that's who."

She glanced at Ascot before taking her foot and using it to move his head towards her, "Hey, you okay? You've been quiet."

He glanced at her speculatively, earning a giggle out of Umi as she contended, "More so than usual."

Ascot opened his mouth to say something, just as the killer in the movie appeared on screen, causing the main girl on screen and Ascot to scream.

Umi just stared at him wide eyed as he blushed deeply.

She grinned at him and started laughing, causing Ascot to somehow blush harder. Umi sat up and kissed his cheek, "Oh, sweet boy."


	64. Prompt 35

**A/N:** Prompt: Fuu/Ferio "Hey, have you seen the…? Oh."

"Ferio?" Fuu called from the kitchen. Oh where were the damn keys? She was running late and if she was late one more time this week…

She walked into the living room, "Hey, have you seen the…? Oh."

Ferio was on the floor, in front of their daughter, jingling the keys in front of her face and making ridiculous gurgling noises at her.

Fuu leaned against the doorframe from the kitchen and watched him. He glanced at her and beamed at her, "Sorry. She likes the sound they make."

She grinned back at him as she crouched down and kissed his head. She pulled the keys from his hand, before turning back to her daughter and jingling the keys again in front of her, earning a smile and giggle out of the baby.

Ferio smiled up at her, "Go to work, Mama, I can take care of it from here."


	65. Prompt 36

**A/N:** Prompt: Caldina/Lafarga "You want me to do what?" (Criminal!AU)

"You want me to do _what_?" Lafarga asked, looking at Caldina in wide eyed disbelief.

Caldina puffed her hair with her fingers in the mirror, "It'd only be for an hour, maybe two if you're feeling _energetic_."

" _Caldina_." Lafarga warned, inadvertently demanding her to turn and look at him.

She turned from the mirror and walked over and wrapped her arms around his neck as she sat in his lap, "I know. It's not your favorite, but _you_ distract the wife, _I_ get the husband to part with the code to the safe, and we will be out of here and somewhere tropical before we can even _blink._ I promise."

Lafarga kissed her, as Caldina ran her fingers through the long part of his hair. He pressed his forehead to hers, "Okay. But spike the guy's drink. I didn't like how handsy he was getting with you."

She laughed at him, "Oh sugar, who do you think you're talkin' to?"


	66. Prompt 37

**A/N:** Prompt: Emeraude/Zagato sharing a taxi au?

When Emeraude saw the taxi as she walked out onto the rainy street, she'd thought it was her lucky day.

She slid in, shaking her hair out to try to dry it out as she and another voice gave the driver instructions on where to go.

Emeraude looked to her left to see a rather attractive dark haired stranger looking back at her.

"Oh!" She said, "I'm so sorry, I didn't see–"

"No, it's my fault I should've–" the man tried to say.

"Listen, I don't much care whose fault it is; who's leaving, who's staying, and who the hell is going to pay me?" The driver interrupted, sounding annoyed.

This led to another overly polite conversation about who should leave, only for the cab driver to take them to a cafe down the street and him turning back to them, "Okay, listen you two, you both seem to have plenty in common, and while I'd love to be involved in the RomCom that is clearly developing here, but I have a living to make so why don't you two take this polite flirting inside, and then you can figure out where you want your next taxi to take you?"

They both blushed, stammering at him, before the taxi driver rolled his eyes, "Please, don't make me go Crazy Yelling Cab Driver on you both. Go get a cup of coffee."

Finally, Emeraude blushed and mumbled a "Thank You" at him, and she and the Dark Haired Stranger exited the cab.

Under the awning of the cafe, Emeraude smiled nervously at him, "I'm, um, I'm Emeraude."

The man smiled down at her, "Zagato. So. How about that cup of coffee?"


	67. Prompt 38

**A/N:** Prompt: Fuu/Ferio High school AU

Fuu had accepted her lot as the class genius. She knew that that meant that it wasn't likely that boys would ask her to any school dances, or to go out after school.

So when she saw the note pushed into the grate of her locker, she was surprised, but when she read it, she was _livid_.

She looked down the hallway to see Ferio, the captain of the football team standing with his friends, and laughing.

Oh, he must think he's being so _clever_.

She stormed down the hallway and threw the note in his face, "You think this is funny?"

He looked surprised at her, "Wha–?"

"Thought it'd be hilarious to write some sort of love confession to the class nerd, get her hopes up, and then laugh about it to all your friends?" She shoved at his chest, "God, I thought that only happened in movies!"

He grabbed her hand, "Would you just wait for a goddamned minute?"

She glared at him but waited despite herself.

"It wasn't a joke." He said simply.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "If you think–"

"Go out with me. Today." He interrupted her, looking at her intently.

"Why."

He laughed nervously, "Because it wasn't a joke. I like you. Go out with me."

She looked him up and down, "I'll think about it."

He grinned at her, "I'll convince you."

She smirked at him, "We'll see."


	68. Prompt 39

**A/N:** Prompt: Teachers AU with Caldina/Lafarga because can you picture this two idiots in the teaching room?

Lafarga was already in the teacher's lounge on his third cup of coffee when Caldina stumbled in, grumbling something about "those brat kids."

Lafarga smiled at her, "Rough day?"

She glared back, "It's _only_ third period."

He grinned, "Well," he glanced around the lounge to make sure they were alone before kissing her cheek, "We can always meet up after school to talk about it."

She smiled back at him, "Is that a date?"

Lafarga just waggled his eyebrows at her before walking out of the lounge.


	69. Prompt 40

**A/N:** Prompt: "you live in the room next door to mine and you have been playing the mountain goats very loudly for the past five hours. are you. i mean. are you okay." omg this is Ferio and Fuu isn't it

Disclaimer: I had no earthly idea what/who The Mountain Goats were until I looked them up so I'm sorry if I have no understanding of what emotional state they're going for

Ferio was unsure what to do about his neighbor. He could hear the music playing through the cement walls of his room, but he could also hear loud crashing.

Finally, he decided to go and make sure that it wasn't some sort of serial killer distraction that he was hearing.

He hit the door as hard as he could be heard over the sound of the music.

"What?" Came the loud, agitated reply.

"Hey, it's Ferio I live next door? Listen, you've been playing 'The Mountain Goats' really loudly for like five hours, are you…I mean, are you okay?" Ferio yelled back.

The music turned down and the door opened to reveal a rather pretty blonde on the other side of the door. She had a bandana on her head to keep her hair out of her face, a broom in her hand, and the windows were open to her room, which was in some sort of pseudo-organized disarray.

She let out a careful breath, like she was trying not to snap at him, "Sorry. About all that. When I'm…when I get angry I kind of… _aggressively_ clean."

Ferio leaned against her doorframe, "Do you…do you want to talk about it?"

She looked him up and down before pulling the bandana off and leaning the broom against the wall by the door, "What'd you have in mind?"

"Well, in the interest of giving the good people of our floor a reprieve from your 'aggressive cleaning'," He smiled at her as she chuckled, "Why don't we go and get a coffee at the Student Center?"

"Ah, yes, the true campus hot spot," she replied, smiling at him.

"Well, you've never been with _me_ ," he said, grinning back at her, "It's a whole different experience."

She grabbed her jacket, her keys, and her student I.D. as she joined him in the hallway, "I'll bet."

He offered her his arm, "Shall we?"


	70. Prompt 41

**A/N:** Prompt: Teachers AU with Hikaru/Lantis/Eagle

"C'mon kids!" Hikaru, the excitable, red haired, art teacher was saying as she led her class into the library, "It's research time! Time to find a rad new artist to try to mimic!"

The kids of her class were all smirking nervously at each other and talking amongst themselves and Eagle, one of the librarians, stepped out from behind the counter and started telling the students about some of the resources that he and Lantis, the other librarian, had pulled out for them.

Hikaru leaned on the counter to smile at Lantis, "Hi."

He offered her a demure smile, "Hi."

She placed her hand on the counter and lightly touched his, "How's your day going?"

Lantis shrugged, "Same ol', same ol'. Caught a young couple attempting to make out in the fiction section so that was interesting."

Hikaru laughed as Eagle joined them, smiling at them both, "Hey darlin', what's the word?"

Hikaru grinned back, "Definitely ready to be home. Who's turn is it to cook?"

"Mine," Eagle answered.

Lantis rolled his eyes, "So we'll grab some take out menus on the way home."

Eagle glared at Lantis as Hikaru giggled before one of her students called for her.

"Coming!" She turned back to the men across from her, "Behave you two."


	71. Prompt 42

**A/N:** Prompt: Baisemain or Gargalesthesia for Ascot x Umi

Baisemain: A kiss on the hand.

It'd become partial tradition for Umi to kiss Ascot's cheek once she and the girls landed in Cephiro. It was something he looked forward to, but this time was different.

He wanted to surprise her.

So when she and the others came whooshing in through their magic, he was there, ready and waiting for her like he always did. As she approached, though, he took her hand and kneeled down to kiss it. Umi blushed scarlet at the gesturing, noting that it was similar to what Ferio had done to Fuu in the Forest of Silence.

Ascot smiled up at her, "Hi."

Umi didn't even try to say anything to that before she leapt into his arms and kissed him.

When the kiss ended he chuckled at her, "I should've done that sooner."


	72. Prompt 43

**A/N:** Prompt: I know you don't ship this but the prompts "You look at him/her the way I look at you." Or "You belong with me. Not him/her." For MKR and Umi/Clef/Ascot?

First quote was chosen.

"You look at him the way I look at you."

They had all decided to have lunch in the gardens of the palace grounds, but within minutes of the meal being consumed, Ferio and Hikaru had run off to spare, dragging a confused Ascot along with them. Fuu had followed after in a quiet huff, mumbling something about someone making sure they didn't kill each other, and Presea had excused herself to go deal with a few other castle related issues.

That left only Umi and Clef at the table, each quietly sipping their tea, and watching the sparing match that was happening on the other side of the garden.

Or, at least they had been quietly sipping their tea until Clef had dropped that on her. She coughed on her tea as she looked at the Guru, "What?"

Celf smiled wearily at her, "Oh Magic Knight…"

She glared at him, "Don't you 'oh Magic Knight' me, Old Man."

She much preferred their bickering to their normal conversations, and she wanted desperately for him to let her change the subject. He just continued to smile at her and took her hand in his, "Sometimes I forget how young you are."

"Clef, what are you–"

"And I forget," he interrupted, placing a kiss on her knuckles, "how often you deny yourself what your heart wants for the sake of another."

She paused and turned her gaze from him back to the sparing match, intent on keeping the tears she felt prickling the back of her eyes where they were as she said, "I don't want to lose you."

He chuckled lightly, "Who said you had to."


	73. The Star Children

**A/N:** Prompt: I'm going to prompt you with this, you can get to it whenever, so no rush. I think you should actually write a piece for the Star Children. Like, the children were born because, well, not only because Emmeraude and Zagato did it once, but also because in the moments afterwards, all she wanted was to be normal, and to have a family with him?The Star Children don't know their lineage, because it's to painful for anyone to look at them long enough to explain.

The Star Children are a concept that have been sitting in my head for awhile, and they basically are just Emeraude and Zagato's children who were born before their parents died, and who managed to survive the country crumbling. Nothing's very well figured out for them, but they are there.

She wakes up to the feeling of his arms around her waist, holding her close, and his even breath fanning across her shoulder. She didn't dare open her eyes yet. She didn't want to welcome in the regret and fear and guilt that was already sitting in the back of her mind.

She wanted to hang on to this for as long as she could: the sun warming her skin, the gentle weight of his arms around her, the feeling of his skin against hers, the feeble illusion that they were normal. That maybe this could be something they did every morning, that maybe they could have a life–a beautiful, chaotic, normal life–just like this. Together.

She felt a faint flutter low in her abdomen, and suddenly feared how badly she wanted anything.

* * *

When the triplets were born, he was there. He held them each, both girls, and their–oh Spirits their–little boy and had held her, before she took them and hid them away. Before she hid herself away.

He barely had time to name them.

The people distantly remembered a day of unprecedented warmth, of flowers suddenly appearing where they hadn't been before and all of them blooming at once. They remembered the night sky being clearer, and the stars had seemed brighter. They remembered feeling an unbridled joy that was shadowed by a horrible sadness that they couldn't name.

They felt as if they lost something important but didn't know what it was.

* * *

When the Children were brought to the castle after the Pillar had died, they didn't know why everyone was looking at them like they were. They clung to each other, as they always had, and stood in front of the Guru with questions in their blue, blue eyes.

The Guru had smiled at them, though it was a smile traced with sadness–a smile that they had started to see in everyone they met.

No one would look at them straight on, no one would speak to them directly, no one had explained why they were here.

The Guru told them to sit with him and they did, still clinging to each other as best they could, and he began.

"Once, there were two people who loved each other very much. But more than anything, they loved this world…"


	74. Prompt 44

**A/N:** Prompt: Malapert. Clef from Magic Knight Rayearth.

Malapert: Clever in manners of speech.

Talking with Clef could often end with the other party feeling confused and vaguely insulted—though they were never truly sure why.

Ascot was often the one feeling confused and insulted. But it wasn't just him; Clef was like that with everyone. He spoke so quickly and so efficiently with wit and snide comments and digs into the person he was talking to.

The only person who seemed to be able get him back—without it turning into a shouting match like it often did with Umi—was Persea. She was the only one who, at any comment from Clef, could hit him right back.


	75. Prompt 45

**A/N:** Prompt: Mamihlapinatapei for ascot and umi

Mamihlapinatapei: The look between two people in which each loves the other but is too afraid to make the first move.

Every time they looked at each other, it took everything in the people around them not to groan out loud. For weeks now, they'd been exchanging glances and looks but they had yet to do anything about it.

Ascot was always sneaking glancing at her, and Umi was always doing the same but it was when they _caught_ each other looking that the issue came up.

When that happened, everyone could see the unspoken affection between them.

It would be sweet, if it weren't for the fact that this has been happening for so long. Ferio at one point even said, "The next time they look at each other like that, I'm just going to tell them."

Instead, thankfully, everyone had the good grace to wait it out until they finally worked it out for themselves.


	76. Prompt 46

**A/N:** Prompt: "A starter sentence which I'll expand into a drabble." Fuu and/or Ferio ofc and can feature any other characters - "I can't get this damned thing to work. Give me a hand, here, will you?"

"It's really not that complicated," Fuu said as she closed her book to help Ferio with the automatic dishwasher, "Dirty dishes go in, clean dishes come out."

"No," Ferio replied, dragging out the word slightly, "Dirty dishes go in, you sacrifice some sort of small packet of magic liquid to it, it makes horrible gargling noises, and _then_ clean dishes come out."

Fuu laughed at him as she bent to grab one of the "small packets of magic liquid" from under the sink and put it in the compartment for dishwashing detergent. Once that was done, she turned a dial on the door to choose what kind of cleaning cycle for it to do before slamming it closed, thus activating the machine.

As it kicked to life and began making it's "horrible gargling noises" she turned back to him, trying–and failing–to conceal her self-satisfied smirk at him.

He mockingly glowered at her, "One of these days, I'm gonna get it right all on my own."

She giggled, "Not too soon, I hope."

She headed back to her book but paused to kiss his cheek, "I like being your knight in shining armor."


	77. Prompt 47

**A/N:** Prompt: Things you said when we were on top of the world for Emeraude/Zagato

"It's beautiful out here." She said dreamily, looking around the courtyard of the Palace as she sat under a tree.

He smiled next to her, "It is."

She was looking at the sky, but he was looking at her.

* * *

"I love you." She said before she could stop herself.

He looked down at her, and she could finally read every thought he was having about her and about them and their future in his clear blue eyes before he was even smiling at her.

He ran his fingers through her hair and kissed her, and all she could think to do was say it again.

* * *

"It's going to be ours." Zagato said when they were looking out on the countryside during one of their walks.

She had just smiled at him and patted his hand, "It doesn't belong to anyone."

Zagato looked at her for a long moment. There was something in his eyes that made Emeraude look back out at the country before them.


	78. Prompt 48

**A/N:** Prompt: The 3tp of Eagle, Lantis, and Hikaru; things you said at 1 am (mixed with: "Which of your OT3 asks the weird questions, which one smacks the other in the face, and which one finally just looks it up")

"Hikaru?" Eagle whispered next to her.

Hikaru gasped awake, "What? What is it?"

"Do you think lizards have feelings?"

Hikaru sighed next to him, "I mean, I'm sure they can? Why–?"

"But what about jellyfish? I mean they're like 95% water aren't they? Can water feel?"

"Eagle please, it is one in the morning, can't we–?"

"Would jellyfish be friends with mermaids?"

Hikaru groaned next to him before she grabbed her pillow and smacked him in the face with it, "Eagle I love you but I will smother you with this if you don't stop."

Suddenly a light was coming from behind Hikaru. She rolled over to look at Lantis who was now on his phone, "Lantis, what are you doing?"

"I'm gonna look up jellyfish facts so Eagle will go to sleep."

"Will that tell you if they have feelings? Or if they'd be friends with mermaids?" Eagle mumbled through the pillow on his face.

Hikaru pulled the pillow off his face and placed it over her own and laid back on the bed to let them further discuss the dynamics of jellyfish society.


	79. Prompt 49

**A/N:** Prompt: Fuu/Ferio "Is there a reason you're naked in my bed?"

"Is there a reason you're naked in my bed?" Ferio smirked as he sat on the edge of the bed to survey the drowsy blonde.

She opened her eyes briefly before squinting in the bright light that the mid-morning sun was throwing into the room. She "tsk" at the light, flicking her wrist in the direction of the windows, causing a gust of wind to throw the blinds closed over them. Ferio mused, briefly, about the huffing rant she would've received from Clef at that display of magic. However, if _Clef_ were the one discovering a wonderfully naked Fuu in his bed…well, that wasn't a very enjoyable line of thought, comparatively.

She rolled over, away from him, mumbling, "'M not naked in _your_ bed; 'm naked in _mine_ ,"

"Oh really?" He laughed, turning more on the bed and leaning to kiss her bare shoulder.

"And why would you be naked in _your_ bed? Did Caldina trick you into a drinking game again?" Ferio murmured, kissing down her shoulder, along her neck, to her cheek.

"Mm." she mumbled back, stretching slightly before rolling back over to him, "She always gets me with that Chizetan wine."

He laughed and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, "That she does."

There was a moment were they stared at each other before Fuu yawned, "So are you going to leave me to be naked and _alone_ in your bed, or are you going to join me?"

Ferio stood from the bed, smiling smugly at her, and started to take off his shirt, "Well, since you've finally admitted it's _my_ bed–"

She grabbed him and pulled him on to the bed with her, laughing, "Oh shut up."


	80. Prompt 50

**A/N:** Prompt: "If you die, I'm gonna kill you." Ascot/Umi

In all fairness, it was technically Caldina's fault.

Okay, fine, that wasn't being fair.

But Caldina had to share some of the blame, right?

After all, it's not as if Umi and Ascot walked into the garden with the intention of staging a fight between them to satisfy a bet. A bet Caldina had come up with but really who was keeping track of that kind of thing.

So when Ascot used one of his offensive spells and Umi dodged, closing the distance between them and then taking out his legs so swiftly that when he landed, he actually lost consciousness, no one was fully prepared. Umi was immediately a panicked mess, moving his head from the ground to her lap as Caldina rushed to find Fuu or some other healer to make sure Ascot was alright.

She smoothed the hair on his forehead to the side to watch him. She kept gently stroking his face, mumbling, "Wake up, Ascot. Please. Oh gods. If you die, I'm gonna kill you."

She leaned down and kissed his forehead, still mumbling, "Please please please."

Fuu got there quickly and, after gently coaxing Umi to move out of the way to let her work, set to surveying his injuries.

After a moment, she turned to Caldina and Umi, confusion etched in her face, "I'm confused. I thought you said Ascot was unconscious?"

"He is!" Umi said earnestly.

"Well. Actually." Fuu said, turning back to Ascot and briefly punching him in the stomach so he sat up, gasping, "He seems to have regained it some time ago."

After that, Ascot almost wished that he had died, especially after the tongue lashing Umi and Caldina gave him.


	81. Prompt 51

**A/N:** Prompt: "Teach me how to play?" Fuu/Ferio

"'Teach me how to play?'" Ferio grumbled under his breath and throwing his cards on the table as Fuu swept up her winnings.

He glared at her as she smirked at him.

"'I've never played before.'" He said, throwing the pitch of his voice higher to mimic hers, "'I don't even _like_ card games.'"

She just kept smiling as she swept the coins into her lap before collecting and shuffling the cards. He narrowed his glare further at her, "You're a hustler."

She tsked her tongue at him as she dealt the cards between them, "Oh now don't be crude."

He only glowered at her as he grabbed his cards from the table.

She surveyed her own cards, still smiling smugly at him before shrugging, "We _can_ stop playing, you know."

"No way." Ferio snapped, leaning over the table insistently, "I'm winning my money back."

"Darling all you have to put up as collateral are your clothes." Fuu pointed out.

Ferio only glared at her harder, "I'm winning my money back."

Ferio lost one of his favorite outfits that day.

Though, to be fair, after a while, he did actually start to prefer seeing it on Fuu.


	82. Prompt 52

**A/N:** Prompt: "You fainted…straight into my arms. You know, if you wanted my attention you didn't have to go to such extremes." for Umi/Clef/(jealous)Ascot from MKR

Fuu had warned her about not over exerting herself, but did Umi listen? No. Of course not. Because what does Fuu know about her body? _Umi_ knows her body, and if Umi thinks she can handle having a training session, followed by a vigorous argument with Clef on an empty stomach then by God, Umi will do just that.

Which might be why, mid-rant, Umi collapsed. She awoke on a small couch with Clef mixing something for her on a low table. She began to sit up, only to have Clef there in an instant to gently push her back down, "No, now, none of that yet."

She sighed, but let herself be pushed back onto the couch, "What happened?"

"You fainted…straight into my arms." He smiled at her, "You know, if you _wanted_ my attention, you didn't _have_ to go to such extremes."

She smirked at him, "I'll keep that in mind."

Clef chuckled before turning back to whatever it was that he was working on. She watched him for a moment, waiting for the slight light-headedness to pass, before she asked, "What're you doing?"

"Making you something that'll make up for the meal you missed, and hopefully help energize you so you'll stop loafing about on my couch."

Umi glared at him, "I am not–"

"Shush." He stopped her, holding the glass out for her, "Drink this."

She glared at him for a moment before taking the glass from him, their fingers brushing as she did. They glanced at each other for a moment before Ascot came into the room.

Ascot looked between them, and Umi could see Ascot formulating the worst case scenario about the situation. Umi took the drink quickly from Clef, mumbling a thank you to him, before trying to smile at Ascot.

The three conversed civilly, Clef preoccupied himself with another project across the room, Ascot fretted over Umi, and Umi tried to pretend everything was fine.

Because if she told herself it was fine, it had to be.

Right?


	83. Prompt 53

**A/N:** Prompt: "We're in the middle of a thunderstorm and you wanna stop and feel the rain?" Umi/Ascot

It was Umi and Ascot's first real day in Tokyo.

And it could've gone better.

Ascot wasn't used to so many people, or buildings, or the speed at which that Tokyo moved, and Umi, for all her trying, didn't know how to make it easier on him. She figured, however, that maybe he'd like a familiar atmosphere, so she took him to the park by the Tokyo Tower.

It wasn't a _perfect_ match for the gardens at the castle, but it was much better than trying to keep him in her house and watching him slowly go bonkers.

She made them a picnic, navigated him through the trains, and they were actually starting to have a pretty nice day, until the clouds rolled in.

There was only a brief rumble of thunder before the rain soaked through them. Umi immediately made a beeline for some of the trees to get out of the rain. She expected him to follow after her, but he was still standing out in the open, staring up at the sky in wonder.

"Ascot!" She yelled to him, "What are you doing? Get out of the rain!"

"Hang on!" He yelled back to her, "I just…I want to feel the rain on my skin."

"We are in the middle of a thunderstorm, and you want to feel the rain on your skin?" She yelled incredulously back at him.

He just started laughing then before he finally came to stand under the tree with her. Once he was there, he shook his head like a dog, splattering her with extra water. She made a disapproving noise as he did, prompting him to smile at her, "Sorry! I'm sorry, I just…we never had rain in Cephiro. I mean. Except for…towards the end. It's…it's nice to be somewhere where it doesn't mean something horrible has happened."

She sighed, "Well. I guess it's not that bad."

He kissed her cheek, "No. It's not."


	84. Prompt 54

**A/N:** Prompt: Meeting at a party whilst drunk au for Umi/Ascot

Ascot hadn't wanted to go out that night. But, then again, he never really wanted to go out. And he wouldn't, if it weren't for the fact that from the time he first got a learner's permit, he's been Caldina's designated driver.

That had been fine when he was younger and could more easily use the excuse of being too young to even be welcomed into those parties, but as he got older, Caldina became more persistent in demanding that Ascot go to the parties _with_ her.

"You gotta live a little, lil bro!" She'd say, draping herself over his shoulders and rocking him slightly, "And wouldn't you rather live a little with someone responsible?"

"You got a point," he'd conceded, smirking at her, "you got someone responsible in mind?"

The smack to the back of his head was worth it.

So. That's how he ended up standing awkwardly against a wall in someone he only kind of knew's living room, with a drink he'd been handed when he first walked in still in his hand, while Caldina had disappeared with Lafarga guy over an hour ago.

He sighed, mostly to himself, when he heard a commotion just to his right. He missed the beginning of the argument, but no one could miss the way the blue haired girl dumbed the contents of not one, but two drinks on the red faced boy in front of her. She turned quickly from him after that, long hair all but whipping the guy in the face as she turned, and stalked (a bit drunkenly) in his direction. She settled next to him on the wall, still glaring absently at the floor in front of her.

She was undeniably attractive, and easily out of the league of the man whom she'd poured the drinks on. She was also a little bit drunk, if the slight sway in her lean was any indication.

"You alright?" Ascot asked her carefully.

She glanced at him before shaking her head, "'M fine. Some guys jus' dun' know when to quit."

Ascot nodded, "'Specially when they're outta their league."

She smiled at him and Ascot could hide how dazzled he was by her smile. She held her hand out to him, "I'm Umi."

He was already blushing as he took her hand gave it a solid shake, "Ascot."

Something dangerous glittered in her ocean blue eyes, "Well Ascot, you look like a guy who's exactly in my league."


	85. Prompt 55

**A/N:** Prompt: Soulmate!AU Emeraude/Zagato

Emeraude knew him before she ever finally met him.

His face had haunted her dreams since she was a child, his absence had colored every other relationship she'd had since she was a teenager, his voice rang in her head like a bell.

Her parents had been worried about her going away to college; she seemed so obsessed with this man who, by rights, probably didn't exist, and they were worried she wouldn't be able to focus on her studies when she was sent away.

But she'd just smiled and said, "I'll be fine. I don't even think about it that much about it anymore."

She was very good at lying.

She'd kept her grades up, and was very invested in her own education, of course, but she kept looking. For the first two years of her college career, she tried to find him; going anywhere she was likely to meet new people to try to find him.

But he was never there.

So she just stopped looking. It hadn't been a great decision, especially since every one of her dreams had him in them–but she did. She gave up on trying to find him.

Until he found her.

It was the first month of her graduate work; she'd moved halfway across the country to one of the only schools that offered the program she wanted to be a part of. There was supposed to be one other person in her program, but she hadn't met him yet—apparently he was still finishing up his work with another professor and needed to show up a month later. They'd been exchanging e-mails, though, so she knew a little bit about him. His name was Zagato, and he'd gotten his major in anthropology, with minors in psychology and art history. He's been following the work of the professor they would be working with very closely, and has been hoping to get his Masters in cultural studies.

They'd arranged to meet at a coffee shop on campus to start discussing their notes and consolidate their research. Emeraude had arrived early to try to make sure she wasn't late and to gain her bearings. She sat in one of the armchairs by the windows and pulled out one of the first books she'd brought to read for herself in years. It wasn't an overly fantastic book, but it had its shining moments and that was enough to keep her reading.

She wasn't really sure how long she waited, but she knew it the moment he walked through the door. There was a…a _pull_ in Emeraude, that caused her to look up well before he even opened the door and when he finally did walk into the coffee shop, she was already on her feet, walking to him.

His eyes hardly traveled passed the barista before they fell to her and the moment they did, there was a spark of recognition in his deep blue eyes, followed by a confusion that probably mirrors her own.

She reached out to touch his face, "I know you."

He embraced her, saying back, "I know you."


	86. Prompt 56

Prompt: High school popular kid/nerd au Lantis/Hikaru/Eagle

As far as Hikaru Shidou was concerned, the head of the fencing club, Lantis, and the head of the technology club, Eagle Vision, were two of the most perfect, cool, and unattainable boys in the whole of their high school. There was no way the two of them would ever notice a girl like Hikaru. Sure, she had her gymnastics, and she was one of the best in the school, but she was far from the feminine type of girl that both of them seemed to draw towards them.

What would boys like that want with a girl like her?

As far as Eagle Vision was concerned, the head of the fencing club, Lantis, and the school's best gymnast, Hikaru Shidou, were two of the most perfect, cool, and unattainable people in the whole of their high school. There was no way the two of them would ever notice a boy like Eagle. Sure, he was one of the brightest technical minds that their school had ever seen, and was head of the technology club, but he was far from the head strong, sociable men that either one of them seemed to draw towards them.

What would people like that want to do with a boy like him?

And then there was Lantis. He knew he was the head of the fencing club, and that he was one of the brightest minds the school had ever seen, as well as the best sword fighter in the school's history. And he also knew that neither of those things would impress the two people he wanted to impress the most; Hikaru Shidou and Eagle Vision. Hikaru's real strength laid in her kindness, as did Eagle, and he was certain they weren't the type to be impressed by something like sword play. They were too kind, too caring, toogood to be concerned with superficial things like that. Lantis tried his best to be those things as well, but he knew that he often came off as snappish and rude.

So what would people like that want to do with a boy like him?


	87. Prompt 57

Prompt: Dysfunctional relationship au YOO Alcyone and Innouva, Anarchistic!AU maybe? Less fic, more musing on the nature of this relationship in my mind.

You know that feeling you get when you make eye contact with a wild animal in it's territory, and you can just tell it hasn't eaten in some time? So it's looking at you, all calculating and hungry, and you can feel the blood rushing from your face and your heart is thudding against your chest like a newly caged animal trying to break free. And the adrenaline is throwing everything into a very sharp focus–as sharp as the teeth of the beast–as you wait for the wild creature before you to decide whether or not to let you live or finally satiate the hunger that's all but driven it mad.

Do you know that feeling?

Because that's what Innouva feels every time he goes into their room at night.

Alcyone could swallow him whole, and no one in the world would know it.

And no one in the world could stop it.

And there is no one in the world he would _let_ stop it.

Do you know that morbid game a cat plays when its finally caught itself a mouse? How it bats at it, how it tosses it into the air, how it shakes it, how it "plays" and "plays" with it until the small thing just stops fighting back?

Because that's what Alcyone does when she gets Innouva alone.

She "plays" and "plays" with him, wondering when he'll stop fighting back.

She does not look forward to the day he stops fighting back.


	88. Prompt 58

Prompt: Cop/person getting a speeding ticket au Fuu/Ferio

The first time she pulled him over, she assumed it was just a genuine mistake–he didn't have any priors and this was honestly the first time he'd gotten a ticket.

He'd tried to flirt his way out of it–a cute tactic that would probably work for another cop, but not her.

The second time they saw each other, it was for a parking violation about a week later. She was writing the ticket when he walked up to her, all smiles and said, "Are you following me?"

She arched an eyebrow at him over her sunglasses, "Doubtful. Where trouble goes, however, I follow. The problem is that trouble seems to really like you."

"Do _you_ really like me?" he grinned at her.

She rolled her eyes, though he couldn't see it, and pulled the ticket from her pad. She pushed it into his chest, "Have a good day, sir."

At that, she turned and walked back to her cruiser.

"You can call me Ferio!" he called after her.

She simply waved back over her shoulder.

The third time they saw each other, it was speeding again.

She walked to his window and he was already grinning at her, "We gotta stop meeting like this."

"You must really love giving more of your money to the government," She replied simply, already writing up the ticket.

"I'd much rather stimulate the economy by taking you out for a drink." He replied easily, leaning out the window slightly.

She eyed him for a moment before writing something additional at the bottom of the ticket and handing it to him. He looked over the ticket but furrowed his brow at the bottom part of it, "What's this?"

"My number." She grinned at him before heading back to her car. She called over her shoulder, "Let's see whether or not you're all talk."


	89. Free Time (Hikaru)

Part of a character specific week from last summer, with the prompt of "Free Time" for Hikaru.

Hikaru's understanding of free time had always been different than other people's.

If she wasn't in school, she was helping at the dojo, and if she wasn't helping at the dojo, she was training.

Very rarely when she had an hour or so to herself, she'd sit with Hikari in the garden and either play with her or just sit, appreciating the scenery and the quiet.

Hikaru didn't often like quiet, but the odd hour here and there helped a great deal.

After the first time to Cephiro, she tried to prevent any opportunity for quiet–quiet meant thinking, and thinking often meant remembering, and remembering–

Well.

She and Fuu and Umi tried to allow time for each other during that year, and they often succeeded, and even though what brought them together hung over them like a thunderhead.

Now though? With peace having been granted to their minds and to the far off land that brought them together?

Hikaru finds free time whenever she can–walks with Hikari, meditation in the garden (do you know how much more meditation it takes when you've been granted shared godhood with your two best friends _plus_ an entire country? It takes a surprising amount of extra mental energy), and doing all sorts of things with Umi and Fuu.

She wonders, now, how she ever survived without more free time.


	90. Family (Hikaru)

Part of a character specific week from last summer, with the prompt of "Family" for Hikaru.

Hikaru has always been good at finding people. Or maybe people are just good at finding her. A light in a dark place will do that.

Due to this, she's always had a wide circle of friends, but only two that she ever considered her family. Fuu and Umi had been worried, when Hikaru had said she wanted to introduce them to her brothers for the first time–not because they didn't want to, but because…well, they were nervous. These were the people who had helped to make Hikaru become the girl she had become–and she was a very impressive person as far as Umi and Fuu were concerned.

Fuu had gone to Umi's house first so that they could take the train together out to HIkaru's house, and neither of them could hide their anxiety from each other. Fuu had tried to find a nice gift to bring to their home to thank them for the meal and their hospitality, Umi had just tried to dress nice so that their little sister wasn't hanging out with a degenerate.

The second the door opened to the Shidou home, though, all of that anxiety disappeared as they were swept into the home and welcomed as if they were lost family members who finally found their way back.

The twins were adamant about each talking to Umi and Fuu, and sharing stories about Hikaru as a child, while Satoru simply made sure they were all comfortable.

Towards the end of the meal, after Satoru had wrangled the twins to leave the girls alone, Umi finally said what was on her and Fuu's minds.

"Your family's been great, HIkaru. They've been extra friendly to Fuu and I. What did…what did you tell them about us?"

Hikaru gave her a confused look, "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just…" Umi trailed off before finally finding her words again, "I've struggled to figure out how to explain my friendship–my connection with you and Fuu to my parents. And I think Fuu's done the same."

Umi looked to Fuu to confirm, which she did, in a quiet nod.

"But here?" Umi continued, "It's…it's like they've known us for years. How did you do it?"

Hikaru just grinned at her, "I told them that you were my family. They took it from there."


	91. Weapon (Hikaru)

Part of a character specific week from last summer, with the prompt of "Weapon" for Hikaru.

Hikaru's greatest weapon, well before she ever first picked up a kendo sword, has always been her smile.

Anyone who knows her will tell you the same. She can best anyone with a sword, but the surest way for her to beat anyone, the fastest way for her to get what she wants, is for her to smile.

Umi and Fuu are the weakest for her smile–probably next to her brothers–and they're also the two who will do whatever it takes to get her to smile.

Hers is the only smile that will cause Clef to smile, even if it is constantly tinged with sadness.

He'd never tell her, but her smile reminds him too much of another young woman whom he cared deeply for. And when he sees her grinning away like that, it reminds him of Emeraude when she was a child.

But that was a long time ago.


	92. Summer (Hikaru)

Prompt: Part of a character specific week from last summer, with the prompt of "Summer" for Hikaru.

Summer means many things to Hikaru. No homework is just a wonderful byproduct. Summer means watermelon, beaches, and two complete weeks of just hanging out with Umi and Fuu.

They had alternating plans for who was in charge of the summer plans when. The first year they were friends, they left it up to Umi to figure out their summer plans.

Umi had convinced her parents to let her bring Hikaru and Fuu with her to their beach house in the south. They spent two weeks playing in the ocean, staying up and watching movies, and getting horrible sunburn.

Well. The last one was mostly Fuu.

The year after that, it was the opportunity to go with Fuu and her parents to America. Everything was big and open and baffling, and they spent more time just trying to make sure they didn't lose each other than they did enjoying the sights. They have pictures of them at all the major attractions in New York City, eating real American food.

Who knew hamburgers could be that messy?

And to get them with peanut butter?

Weird.

But their favorites, they all agree, is when they stay in the city. When it's Hikaru's turn, they just spend the two weeks at the Dojo. They sleep out under the stars, help with the students, spend time in the garden, and just be.

And it is the most at peace any of them feel.


	93. Another World (Hikaru)

Prompt: Part of a character specific week from last summer, with the prompt of "Another World" for Hikaru.

In another world, Hikaru Shidou is an owner of a cafe. She knows all the best ways to make chai tea, how to make cute designs in the foam of various lattes, and she can remember more orders than any of her counterparts. Her hair always smells like coffee, and her hands always smell like sugar from making pastries.

And she is happy.

In another world, Hikaru Shidou is bringing down a different sort of corrupt government with a direct connection to an Elder God. She bears His Marks and speaks His Words, and seeks revenge for the girl who died before her. She is coming for the one who has hurt her country.

And she is angry.

In another world, Hikaru Shidou is a spy. She works hard and fast. She is good at her job, and is loyal to the cause of her organization, and to the others like her. She knows enough about too many governments to completely decimate them if she ever wanted to. But she doesn't want to. She just wants to live and work with her friends.

And she is happy.

In yet another world, Hikaru Shidou has welcomed the darkest part of her heart back to her–and has let it thrive. There is a world that chose her as its sovereign, and she has shown them that asking a fourteen year old to kill does not go well.

And she is…well.

In this world, though, in a land of eternal spring, surrounded by people who love and who have forgiven her, she has found peace. In this world, she has found another home, another life, that she wouldn't trade for any of the millions of other lives she could be living.

She is home.


	94. Family (Umi)

Part of a character specific week from last summer, with the prompt of "Family" for Umi.

There is very little else Umi cares about as deeply or as passionately than her family. She owes so much to her parents, and while they consistently tell her that she doesn't owe them anything, she still plans on paying them back however she can.

Her family is the most important thing to her, and for the longest time, her "family" was just her parents.

And then.

Well.

Getting thrown through a magical portal with two strangers and told that they were meant to save a world that they had no understanding of only to have what little understanding they did have get thrown out the window will definitely make fast friends or family members out of those two strangers.

Since then, she's applied the same "mad dog with a steel bite" loyalty to her friendship with Hikaru and Fuu.

There is nothing she wouldn't do for either of them.

They're family after all.


	95. Free Time (Umi)

Part of a character specific week from last summer, with the prompt of "Free Time" for Umi.

Umi doesn't really do free time. She's not like Hikaru where her life demands that she be constantly doing something so that everything moves smoothly, but she usually feels like she has to be doing something.

When she has a moment to herself, she often practices her ballet, or her fencing, she'll cook, she'll clean, she'll find a craft to do–anything to keep her hands busy. Girls from her class have asked to spend time outside of school or clubs together with her, but Umi never took them up on it.

She liked having time to herself to do things that were often just for her.

But when she finally has a moment where she doesn't want to do anything, she just watches television. This usually includes a lot of yelling on her part at the characters, the writers, sometimes even at the camera man.

When she's particularly angry at the camera man she starts yelling at a "Hideki" but that's mostly because there are a lot of camera men and it's just easier to yell at the one.

She hadn't realized it was an actual problem until Hikaru and Fuu were over–during one of the rare times when she didn't want or felt the need to do anything but sit around and be with her friends–and they were watching a movie and Umi started to make fun of it.

"Oh no this is good because it's been a few minutes since a woman was brutalized."

Hikaru had laughed and made her own jokes as well, and they both laughed and teased the movie, while Fuu sat there in a confused silence.

After a few times, though, all three of them started picking apart the movies they were watching, laughing at teach others jokes, and loving their time together. There isn't a classic movie they haven't seen and torn apart.

Very quickly, like Hikaru, she started finding any and every excuse to have free time "just for her."


	96. Friends (Hikaru)

Part of a character specific week from last summer, with the prompt of "Friends" for Hikaru.

Hikaru has a lot of friends. And she tries her best to keep up with each and everyone of them. This results in any sort of gathering of the friends needing to a huge deal in order to accommodate all of them.

Her birthday in particular has always been a stress inducing mess. Umi and Fuu, since they've sort of taken it upon themselves to plan Hikaru's birthday, have figured out that in order to guarantee that Hikaru gets to see everyone she cares about on her birthday, they have to have four parties.

One at the dojo, with the students and her classmates. She runs around the gardens with the younger kids, and the girls from her school wish her a Happy Birthday and sneak glances at Satoru when they think no one is looking. But Satoru knows, and so do Umi and Fuu. It lasts the better part of the afternoon, with neighbors and friends and classmates coming and going to see Hikaru and wish her a Happy Birthday.

The next party is a bit smaller scale, where her brothers do what they've done every year for her birthday–Umi and Fuu have nothing to do with this one, except making sure that she's not bothered during that time. Satoru cooks her favorite food while the twins go and get her her favorite frozen treat to stick a candle in. They come back into the living room where she's watching her favorite movie, all three of them singing loudly and horribly off key while Hikari jumps around excitedly and barks almost to the tune of the song as well. And Hikaru grins so big she's sure her face is going break in half.

The one after that is the party at Cephiro, where Presea makes them tea and they have a garden party with traditional Cephiran food–they've gotten better at figuring out what they like and prefer, and Hikaru even has figured out what her favorites are. Caldina always finds a way to sneak some liquor into the party, Clef and Umi always end up bickering about something, a friend of Ascot's gets over excited at the commotion, and somewhere in all that, they give Hikaru her gifts and tell her how happy they are to celebrate this day with her.

The last one, though, might be her favorite. It's after everything else, after all the madness of celebrating her birthday with all the other people she knows and loves, when it's just her, Umi, and Fuu. Umi will steal a little bit of Caldina's wine, Fuu will grab some light orbs from storage, and Hikaru will make sure their room is clear. They climb into the bed, sipping on their stolen wine with lights scattered around the room and talk, and laugh, and relax after being around everyone else. At the end of it, when they're all drowsy from the wine, they just curl up together, and Umi and Fuu tell Hikaru how glad they are that she's their friend and that they got to be with her for her birthday.

Hikaru really loves her birthday.


	97. Weapon (Umi)

Part of a character specific week from last summer, with the prompt of "Weapon" for Umi. Based in a Gang!AU

Umi joined the gang, the Knights, for herself, first and foremost. The ensuing loyalty to the boss, Emeruade, and the two girls in her faction only solidified her staying.

The late nights were freeing–she shaved the sides of her head, got tattoos on her knuckles and hands, and there wasn't a pair of tights she owned that didn't have holes in them from her skinned knees.

She learned early on that she had to be her own weapon in order to survive in the group that she'd joined in.

When she smiles, it's like seeing a shark's maw.

She doesn't curtsey, so much as bow under the weight of the weapons in jacket.

She reads something in graffiti that makes her laugh around her cigarette, and turn to Fuu to say that that was what would be her next tattoo.

"Our teeth and ambitions are barred."


	98. Another World (Umi)

Part of a character specific week from last summer, with the prompt of "Another World" for Umi.

Umi has spent her whole life knowing she was from another world.

Not in a necessarily literal sense, but in a sense that she could tell that she was somehow separate from other people–even just girls in her class. There was almost a disconnect, which most people took to mean she thought she was somehow better than anyone.

That has never been true.

If anything, she thought she just was.

She was good at fencing, but not the best.

She was good at school, but not great.

She was good with people, but not a social butterfly.

She always thought she was just always good enough.

Even when she went to Cephiro, she doubted that she was who they wanted to save their world–Fuu and Hikaru were meant for their roles there. As events continued, she started to believe that she was meant to be something more than good enough.

Until the end.

When they came back, she felt like an entire part of her soul was left behind–so much of her was left in another world. Then, the differences between her own world and the worlds of the only two people who understood her were so set apart from her own.

Nothing had felt more isolating than during the year after.

But there's nothing she's valued more than the second chance she got in going back to another world. Where for the first time, there wasn't a feeling of disconnect; this world, this other world, is her home.


	99. Summer (Umi)

Part of a character specific week from last summer, with the prompt of "Summer" for Umi.

The summer it was Umi's turn to provide the plan for their summer, she'd had to all but beg her parents to let them use their beach house–and to use their beach house on their own.

Umi wanted to give all of them a chance to be how they were with out the constant questioning looks from their families–"Why are you so close to these girls?" "Who are they?" "What is going on?"

At least like this, they didn't have to answer those questions.

Today, on the third day of their vacation, Umi had sent Hikaru and Fuu out the beach to start relaxing while she made them some lemon cupcakes for them. It didn't take anything to get Hikaru out of the house and on the beach–all she had to say was the sun was out and the water was blue and she was gone. Fuu, on the other hand, had been a bit more difficult–apparently she had some assignments that needed to be done soon, and had yet to actually get her nose out of one of her textbooks.

But Umi had an idea that would fix that.

Once the cupcakes were done–blueberry frosting and cute rainbow sprinkles making them particularly delectable–she grabbed her floppy sun hat and made her way out to their spot.

She could see Hikaru playing with some little kids in the shallow end, splashing water at them as she splashed her, and Fuu was sitting on her towel, under the umbrella, still reading through her textbook.

Umi kicked a bit of sand at her, "What're you doin'?"

Fuu looked at her, agitation flashing across her face briefly, before sticking her tongue out at her, "Guaranteeing that I get into a good college–what're _you_ doin'?"

Umi scrunched her nose at her, "Honing my culinary expertise–but if you're too busy–"

"Gimme the cupcake and no one gets hurt." Fuu said, setting the textbook aside.

Umi laughed at her and handed her the tray she'd been carrying the cupcakes on to Fuu. Fuu grabbed one and giddily started to eat it as Umi called for Hikaru to come get a cupcake. Hikaru came running back, shaking herself off like a dog, earning disapproving exclamations from Umi and Fuu. They made short work of the cupcakes, and Umi convinced Fuu to take the tray up. Once Fuu was out of ear shot, Umi turned to Hikaru to formulate a little scheme.

Fuu came back to Umi and Hikaru acting a bit suspicious, but she chose not to pay it too much mind. She went to sit back down, only to be grabbed by Umi, and thrown over her shoulder, while Hikaru grabbed her ankles.

"What are you doing?!" Fuu yelled at them both.

"You can spend one day away from your textbook–it'll still be there!" Umi yelled back.

"Swim with us, Fuu!" Hikaru yelled from the back as Umi reached the water.

"You know, you could've just _asked_!" Fuu yelled.

"We tried that! You just chose your textbook first!" Umi yelled back, and then, rather unceremoniously, Umi and Hikaru threw her into the next wave that came up.

Fuu spent the rest of the afternoon trying to get them back. Umi just kept a self-satisfied smile on her face and happily received Fuu's vengeance.


	100. Prompt 59

Prompt: "Wanna bet?" - Ferio and Umi at some point?

Let it be known that Ferio and Umi are enablers.

And when left to their own devices, and to spend time on their own, they will enable each other and challenge each other and since they are both as stubborn as a pair of mules, they will do just about anything. When they get their hands on some alcohol (and it is very rarely ever "if"), nothing and no one is safe.

It always starts with one very dangerous question.

"Wanna bet?"

"You can't beat me at a game of poker."

"Wanna bet?"

"You can't climb up that tree naked."

"Wanna bet?"

"You can't get a hold of Clef's head piece so we can put it on one of the statues in the garden."

"Wanna bet?"

And so on and so on until their both sitting in a tree, singing drinking songs, Ferio mysteriously missing his shirt, and Lafarga standing at the base of the tree trying to reason with them while they throw various nuts and berries at him.

They are not often left to their own devices for these reasons.

But then again, it wouldn't be a visit to Cephiro if it didn't happen at least once.


	101. Prompt 60

Prompt: "I think I'm in love with you and I'm terrified." Umi/Ascot

It came out of his mouth before he could stop it. They've just gotten back from trying to find the Road to the Pillar, he has shown her that he's more than just summoning magic, and she was smiling at him.

"It's great that you've learned magic to defend yourself and your friends, Ascot," She'd beamed at him as they walked the hallways of the castle. He was just escorting her back to her room, but he found himself wishing–as he always did–that they'd get distracted, or get so wrapped up in their conversation that she won't want to leave him.

He'd smiled sheepishly back, "Well, I was hoping to use it to help defend you too."

And she'd looked surprised–why was she surprised?–and asked, "What do you mean?"

"I think I'm in love with you and I'm terrified." He'd said. Now it was like the words were curled on the floor, naked and vulnerable, waiting for her to do something with them.

She continued to stare at him, wide eyed in surprise and disbelief, before quietly asking, "Why are you terrified?"

An incredulous laugh bubbled out of him–was she being serious?–"Because I can't do anything about it. Because you are out there– _daily_ –risking your life and well-being for a country you know nothing about. Because you don't feel the same way about me and–"

"Now wait just a minute, _Palu Ascot_." She interrupted sternly, "Just when did I say I didn't feel the same way?"

"What?" He asked, baffled.

She grabbed him by his collar and pulled him down to her level, after only a moment's pause, she kissed him.

And Ascot was a whole new kind of terrified and excited.


	102. Prompt 61

Prompt: "Looks like we're going to be here for a while..." Umi/Ascot

Umi couldn't sleep. That's what had been her excuse. It was the middle of the night, she was restless, so she went to the kitchen to try to either get something to eat, or imagineer something from the ingredients that were available. It was here, that Umi ran into Ascot.

He smiled at her, "Can't sleep?"

She shook her head, standing opposite him at the counter, "You?"

"Never been one for sleep in a bed–didn't have the luxury of it when I worked for Zagato and now I guess I'm just not used to sleeping on my own." He shrugged, leaning against the counter.

"What do you mean?" she asked turning from him and starting to rummage through the storage cupboards.

Ascot walked around from his side of the counter to look with her, not that he really knew what she was looking for but it was better than standing there watching her, "I usually sleep with my friends, but Caldina wants me to try to assimilate more into normal society so I'm working on sleeping in the castle and not in the gardens."

"I see that's going well," Umi pointed out, opening a door and wondering into the pantry, Ascot followed her, chuckling lightly. She said over her shoulder, "If it makes you feel better, I think Ferio goes out there every once in a while to sleep so maybe–"

The door to the pantry closed gently behind them, and Ascot quickly rushed to it, trying to get it to open. After a few failed attempts, he just thumped his head against the door, mumbling, "Oh no."

He turned back to her, trying to smile at her, "Looks like we're going to be in here for a while…"

"You have got to be kidding me." She said in response, brushing passed him and trying the door for herself.

She glared at it for a moment before asking, "Do you think I could just blast the door open with one of my spells?"

"I'm going to have to ask you not to do that–I like being alive. Besides, you'd probably wake up half the castle in that attempt." Ascot pointed out, sitting against the far wall and grabbing a jar of what appeared to be some Cephiran version of cookies and munching on those.

Umi turned her glare to him for a moment, before sighing and sitting next to him. She grabbed his arm and wrapped it around her shoulders, curling into his side, "Well Ascot, if we're going to be here awhile, you just as well tell me a story."

"Oh?" He asked looking at her speculatively around a smile.

"Yes." She answered, scrunching her nose at him, "And I'd get to it, I'm a tired, hungry Magic Knight who's locked in a pantry."

He just chuckled and started telling a story from his childhood. Fuu found them the next morning, curled against each other and fast asleep against the wall with an empty jar next to them.


	103. Free Time (Fuu)

Part of a character specific week from last summer, with the prompt of "Free Time" for Fuu.

How Fuu spends her free time is often subject to change. Usually, if she's in a calmer state of mind, she programs. She'll spend hours in front of her computer, practicing and coming up with her systems.

When she's ready for mindlessness, she'll dust off one of her well taken care of consoles and she and Hikaru will play nigh on seven hours.

It's really rather impressive. Umi has no idea how they do it. Especially since they take it seriously while simultaneously ripping it to shreds.

It's baffling.

When she's restless, to the point where she can't even focus on anything, she'll run.

At first she just ran on her own. It was the closest she got, sometimes, to feeling like she was flying–and she missed that feeling.

Soon, Umi recognized what she was doing, and Umi wanted to join her.

After all, Hikaru and Fuu have video games, they deserved their own thing too.

Her sister pointed out that she hasn't been spending much time for just herself anymore. And Fuu was confused, because to her, she hasn't been busy or distracted by anything. Because, to her, being with Umi and Hikaru is better than being alone.


	104. Family (Fuu)

Part of a character specific week from last summer, with the prompt of "Family" for Fuu.

Fuu's family has never been particularly close knit. They weren't cold people by any means; they cared deeply about her and each other and she knew that.

She did.

But most of time, living in her large house with her family felt more like living alone. They were always doing their own things, working on their own projects, living own lives.

Just separately.

They went on family trips, of course, but even those were more like a forced trip with strangers.

She's closer to her sister Kuu; perhaps not perfectly but close enough that Kuu knows when she's upset, and often acts as her caretaker.

It breaks her heart that she can't confide in Kuu about what happened to her at Tokyo Tower, and even about her close relationship with Umi and Hikaru, but she knows that the nature of everything that her life has become a bit more complicated than she knows how to explain to her.

She thought–or more accurately, had been afraid that this restriction in her ability to confide in her sister, her former confidant, would be isolating.

But it hasn't been.

She's found a new family to talk to, to help to keep her from feeling alone.


	105. Weapon (Fuu)

Part of a character specific week from last summer, with the prompt of "Weapon" for Fuu. Based in a Gang!AU

Fuu joined the Knights because she was bored. Umi had joined the gang for herself–which Fuu admired and respected–and Hikaru had joined because it was her family's…expectation.

But Fuu joined because she was bored. She had a very particular set of skills, skills that weren't being utilized in her usual life, or even touched on, if she was being honest.

Which is why Emeraude first approached her to join her gang.

She had sat next to Fuu on the bleachers at her school, all smiles and warmth and said, "So. Tell me what you see."

Fuu had given her a confused look and described the scene in front of them, and Emeraude had just grinned at her, "No, dear, what you _really_ see."

"What are you–"

"I recognize your talent." She kept smiling, surveying the field in front of them, "I had the same one. That's how I got so far."

She reached into her jacket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, tapping on out and putting it between her lips. She offered one to Fuu, who declined, earning a shrug from Emeraude as she lit it. She took a puff before turning back to Fuu.

"So. Tell me what you see."

Fuu studied her for a moment, before looking back at the field, directing Emeraude's gaze towards who she was talking about with small head nods, and glances as she discussed the either physical or emotional weakness of the various figures on the field.

At the end she couldn't stop the small smile that lit across her face as she turned to Emeraude to say, "Hypothetically, of course."

Emeraude grinned back, "Of course."

They sat in silence for a moment before Emeraude said, "You know, I could use a girl with your weapons in my group; I even got someone you can work with."

Fuu arched an eyebrow at her, earning a smirk from Emeraude as she conceded, "Whom you can direct. She needs it. And _I_ need someone with vision. So what do you say?"

Fuu studied the field for another moment before a genuine smile lit across her face again, "When do I start?"


	106. Another World (Fuu)

Part of a character specific week from last summer, with the prompt of "Another World" for Fuu.

Fuu had been adapting to living in the other world–her other world–their? other world–and while it'd been slow, she'd developed a sort of routine.

Mostly that involved a lot of delegation meetings, lessons with Clef, then Lafarga, a few meals somewhere in there, and a closing dinner before following a certain green haired Prince back to their room.

And somewhere, in all of that she always managed to find some time for herself. She liked the far corner of the garden best–it was just far enough away from castle that she was rarely bothered, but close enough that she didn't feel completely cut off from the rest of the palace. She'd read or add to her notes on the country and the most recent legend she's working on transcribing.

Today, however, she was not alone.

She'd seen one of Ascot's friends roaming around one of her favorite trees, and hadn't thought much of it. Until Ascot came fumbling through the trees, hat messed up and a bit wild eyed, "Have you seen–?"

Fuu just pointed in the direction she'd seen his friend wonder off to, Ascot quickly rushed in that direction.

Fuu went back to reading, mumbling to herself, "Leave it alone, leave it alone, leave it alone."

Only to have Ascot come running back towards her, grab her, throw her over his shoulder, and continue running back towards the castle.

"Ascot!" She screamed at him, "What the fu–?"

"Made her mad, gotta run, made her mad, gotta run," He replied, as something roared further in the trees.


	107. Summer (Fuu)

Part of a character specific week from last summer, with the prompt of "Summer" for Fuu.

Before they'd figured out a suitable way of spending their summers still on earth, they spent a great deal of their summer vacation time in Cephiro.

After all, it's a land of eternal spring, who wouldn't enjoy that?

Fuu had even figured out how to hang a hammock between a pair of trees in the garden for her to nap while she read. She would kick off her shoes, lie back, and let the sun and birdsongs eventually lull her to sleep.

One day, when she fell asleep in the hammock, she distantly heard Umi and Hikaru whispering near her. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but none of it sounded like her name so she let it go.

"Umi? Umi will you help me?" she heard Hikaru whispering.

"Can't you ask your mom?" Umi asked, sounding as groggy as Fuu felt.

"She's sleeping!" Hikaru whispered back incredulously.

"And I'm tap dancing?"

" _Umi_!"

" _Fine_."

That had been the last she heard from them as she drifted back to sleep. When she woke up, she saw that Umi and Hikaru had set up their own hammocks on either side of her, sleeping peacefully.

This is the image that comes to her mind when someone asks her what her best summer memory is. Her two friends, sleeping peacefully on either side of her, all their cares and worries far from them. At least for now.


	108. Prompt 62

Prompt: "It could be worse." and "Looks like we'll be trapped for a while…" for fuu/ferio?

"Looks like we'll be trapped for a while…" Ferio said, as rain pounded against the windows of their apartment. They had yet to actually start their day, and were instead still cuddled together, as they'd been since he arrived.

"Hm," Fuu hummed back, nuzzling closer into his chest, "Well there go my plans for the day."

He chuckled at her and ran his fingers through her hair, "You had something else planned?"

She shrugged, smirking at him, "A little something, but it really relied on us actually leaving this room."

He squeezed her, pulling her with him as he rolled to his back. She giggled as she settled on top of him, he kissed her neck, "Now what could outside of this room possibly hold for us?"

"I can't imagine," she grinned at him, responding with her own kiss to the tip of his nose.

She rested her head on his shoulder, lightly tracing patterns onto his chest, "Besides, it could be worse."

"How do you mean?" he asked, still running his fingers through her hair.

"It could've been a perfectly beautiful day, and one of our friends could've called and asked us to go out with them."

Ferio covered her mouth with his hand, "Don't say such things!"


	109. Friendship (Fuu)

Part of a character specific week from last summer, with the prompt of "Friendship" for Fuu.

Hikaru gets weird if she's been up for too long. She gets even weirder if she's struggling to fall asleep.

This usually prompts what she and Umi call her "Three In The Morning Questions."

Her greatest hits include: "Does Hikari know how much I love him? I mean, I know he knows, but does he _know_?"

"If jellyfish are just wet ghosts, what are they the wet ghosts _of_?"

And many more. Half the time, neither of them knew what she was talking about. The other half, when they were willing to encourage her, they would end up staying awake for another hour and a half speculating with her about the possible answers to her questions.

Tonight's question, was one that needed some discussion.

"Do you think the Mashins were friends?"

This caused Umi and Fuu to both come back from their brink of sleep and turn to Hikaru.

"Why do you ask, Hikaru?" Umi asked in the dark.

"Well it's just…" there was a pause before Hikaru got her words gathered, "They were isolated gods whose only purpose was to act as a failsafe for when the one support system of an entire world crumbled–do you think they talked? Do you think Selece and Windam had races? Did Rayearth ever get stir crazy in the volcano? 'Cause I know Hikari gets really antsy if I don't get him to run around at least once a day. And–"

"I don't know about that," Umi laughed, "What do you think Fuu?"

"I think a trio of immortal elemental Gods would have better things to do than having races." Fuu chuckled lightly.

There was a pause, all of them thinking, before Fuu added, "I think they might have been. Or at least, they must have had some sort of relationship–forever is a long time after all."

There was a solemn silence between the three of them for a moment before Hikaru asked, so quietly it was almost hard to hear her, "Do you think we'll be friends forever? Like them?"

Umi immediately went into mother hen mode, moving to wrap her arms around Hikaru and cooing, "Aw, honey!"

Fuu turned and hugged Hikaru as well, "Yes, dear, I think we will."

"Yeah whatever," Hikaru said, laughing weakly, "You nerds."


	110. Prompt 63

Prompt: ok but so what if fuu and ferio's canon positions were reversed. ferio's and his friends are summoned from another world and they have to kill fuu's sister

There are plenty of stories of boys going out to find themselves with their friends to support them; Ferio just doubted that they ever really involved being thrown from a seemingly harmless class trip into another world where they're expected to be the saviors of said other world.

It wasn't without it's perks though. Where else would he have met the beautiful blonde bard who kicked his ass?

Well, if you listened to Ascot, just about anywhere, as there was no shortage of women who wanted to kick his ass back home.

There there was a sadness to her, underneath her bravado and her sarcasm; something was weighing on her mind. He had tried to ask her, to get her to open up to him about what she was going through–he's supposed to be a hero after all; it was his job to help those in trouble.

She had only shrugged him off, kissing him before they parted ways and giving him a small golden ring to remember her by.

When their task was done–and it was not what they had thought it would be–he never forgot her. He wondered about her, he worried about her, he wondered if she would look at him the same way knowing what he'd done.

When he and his friends were mysteriously sent back, he wanted to see her again, to see if she was still the same wily, snarky, perfect girl that she'd been when he met her.

Only to find that the woman he'd killed, the woman who had tried to kill him, had been her sister. He could barely stand to look at himself, let alone her, but she was stubborn.

She found him, that night, restlessly pacing the hallways.

"As annoying as ever, I see," She'd tried to smile at him.

He didn't say or do anything in response to her, just closed himself off further to her.

She stood next to him, uncharacteristically nervous, and tried again, "I–I know what you're expecting from me."

"I doubt that." He said dryly.

"You killed my sister." She said just as dryly.

He flinched from her, but she pushed on, "And I do hate you for it."

"Well thank you for confirming my fears then." He replied, starting to walk away from her, but she grabbed his hand.

"Let me finish." She said sternly, a bit of an all too familiar spark appearing in her deep green eyes.

He wanted to pull away from her, to fight her, but he couldn't find it in his heart to do so–he had missed her despite their brief time together, and despite his guilt for having done so.

She clung to his hand, "Part of me hates you. And all of me knows that I'm entitled to it, but another part of me, a very loud part of me, missed you. Despite all reason and logic, I missed you."

Ferio stood frozen in his spot, unsure of what to do or even feel. He tried to speak, "Fuu, I–"

"Look," she interrupted, "Even if you can't stand to be around me, even if you hate yourself more than anyone ever could, know that I…I forgive you."

Ferio flinched from her again, from her forgiveness, but she pushed on, "And I'm just…really glad I got to see you again."


	111. Prompt 64

Prompt: write something about Ferio's rattail

Fuu thinks it's ridiculous. And she's told him as much.

He's tried to tell her it's a warrior thing; that only swordsmen get them.

"Look at Lafarga! He's got the longest–"

"Yes, but Lantis doesn't have one and he's a swordsman too." She'd refute.

"Lantis doesn't count. He's a _magic_ swordsman." Ferio had insisted.

"So he doesn't get a _magic_ rattail?" She'd smirked.

He spent the rest of that afternoon pouting. She'd apologized, but she doubted that he really believed her.

Though, there are times when she does enjoy it. It often provides a certain amount of leverage that she enjoys during certain…moments. But then there are quieter times, gentler times, where she can show him that even though she does think it's ridiculous, she does love it.

Some nights, she'll sit on their couch with a brush in her hand and Ferio will sit on the floor in front of her, hair undone, and lets her brush it.

She's got very gentle hands when it comes to handling his hair, always being careful not to tug too much or too hard (even as she often complains about how thick it is, and how much of a mess it tends to be). And usually, because of her careful hands and gentle touch, he falls asleep with his head in her lap.

And really, how can she hate something that allows for that to happen?


	112. Prompt 65

Prompt: "A family affair" & "Been around a long, long time" for Clef

The girls had been curious about Clef since they met him. Fuu had the most questions in her mind about him–745 years is a long, long time to be alive, to see, to learn, to be. At first, they were always unsure of how or even if to ask him about his past.

He could see it in their eyes though. They'd watch him doing certain things, or listen to him talk, and he could just see the questions–"Where did you learn that?" "Who taught you?" "What was your family like?"

Sometimes, he'll tell them small anecdotes about his own schooling when it came to learning to control his magic–how his mother would help to calm him down when it would get out of hand, or when she taught him how to make the sleep potion that he gave to Umi their first night back.

And they sit and listen as if he were imparting the knowledge of the cosmos to them. He'd find it humorous, if something long buried in his heart didn't wake up and break a little as he looked into their hopeful, young eyes.

They never ask for more than he's willing to share, and they never press him when he says to leave him alone. He only requests being left alone on very specific days–not that the girls really seem to notice it, time moves so differently in Cephiro–and they never ask what he does on those days.

He leaves early, before anyone else wakes, packs for a couple of days, and then walks. The country has changed so much since Emeraude's passing, so many markers and places that he'd known so well were just gone. But he knew his way–he could never get lost in Cephiro.

He walked from sunrise to sunset, until he finally reached an open field with a single stone sitting in the middle of it. His mother used to take him to this stone every year, to sit, to meditate, to focus his powers. Since she died, since he left his home, he always comes back to this stone–he was amazed that in all the upheaval, in the complete destruction of his country, the stone managed to stay. He wonders if there's an older magic at work on that stone that has kept it in place–the girls aren't the only ones with questions.

He sits at the base of the stone, and he meditates for two days, just like his mother taught him. He loses himself to the sounds of the world around him and sometimes, if he's truly lost himself to it, he thinks he can hear his parents laughing.


	113. Prompt 66

Prompt: "Surprisingly domestic" for Hikaru

When the girls first moved in together, Fuu sort of expected to be the mother of the apartment–making sure everyone ate right, kept their rooms clean, the sink empty, the apartment fairly tidy, you know, the usual things.

But within the first week, she realized that they each just naturally completed different tasks. Fuu had a set day every week where she would deep clean the apartment, but during the week, Umi would do the dishes, and Hikaru did the laundry.

Fuu didn't know why she was surprised by the domesticity that Hikaru demonstrated–she and her brothers were the household after all–but when she saw Hikaru hanging up clothes to dry, something about the image struck her.

She'd seen Hikaru at home, obviously, it was more that when she thought of Hikaru, she thought of kendo swords, running, she thought of how hard she laughs and how easy it could be to make her smile–she thought of her as a child.

She watched her hang the clothing, and realized that she'd been doing Hikaru a terrible disservice in her mind–Hikaru was not some lost foundling, fumbling through the world as if she'd never been a part of it. Hikaru was strong, stronger than anyone she'd ever met, and she was capable.

So when Hikaru came in, with the basket on her hip, Fuu just grinned at her, "Thank you, Hikaru."

And Hikaru would just grin back at her.


	114. Prompt 67

Prompt: "Keep coming back to the same place." For Lantis

Even when he was younger, Lantis had this intense desire to run off. Clef used to say that if he looked away from Lantis for even a moment, he'd disappear.

"I don't know what disappearance spell he's been working on," Clef once sighed to Zagato, "But remind me to eventually ask him about it–it seems to work very well for him."

Zagato had actually laughed at that.

Zagato never seemed worried when Lantis would disappear, some thought it was because Lantis had told him where he was going to go, others thought it was because Zagato always seemed to find him, only a select few knew the truth.

Lantis always came back.

No matter how indignantly he'd proclaim that this was the last time, that this was when he'd never come back–when he would proclaim such things–given enough time, he'd be back.

During the time he'd left to travel the worlds, Clef would wonder and worry–how could he not?–but he tried to take comfort in what Zagato had known about his brother.

Lantis always came back.

And he did.


	115. Prompt 68

Prompt: "Been around a long, long time" for Clef

Clef has always been a child of Cephiro. There aren't many of them left. He knows and feels the country as if it were a part of him. It's different than the connection Emeraude or even the girls have with Cephiro.

His is a more physical, visceral connection. It stemmed from the kind of old, deep magic that his mother, his _family_ , had taught him. But he hardly understood himself–his mother had put that understanding in him at a young age.

"Somethings just _are,_ my Sky," she'd said, stoking their fire, "and somethings just aren't worth questioning."

Fuu has guessed about it–privately, she'd never say anything to Hikaru or Umi unless she had some sort of proof–and she never asked Clef about it.

Well.

She _tried_ not to ask Clef about it.

But she remembered how _deeply_ he'd felt every tremor, every dissolved chunk, from the country.

It sat in the back of her mind for years after she, Hikaru, and Umi had finally moved back to Cephiro, and as she and Clef started her project to record in writing the history and myths of Cephiro, she couldn't fight the urge to ask.

And when she did, all he did was smile at her and say, "My dear, I have been around for a very, _very_ long time."

Something in the way he spoke told Fuu that she shouldn't ask him more about that until he spoke about it.

He very rarely spoke about it.


	116. Prompt 69

Prompt: "Wildness on the loose" for Ascot Semi-based in the universe of "See I Have Come To Burn Your Kingdom Down"

There are old legends about the Wild Boy in the forest before the ocean. They talk about how he could get any beast to listen to him, how the Gods seemed to favor him in some way, how there was a secret in the forest that he didn't know.

No one is surprised when the Matron of the Sea reveals that she met the Wild Boy, even fewer are surprised that she found a way to tame him.

"There is nothing the ocean has not seen," she is heard saying about the Wild Boy. There is soft smile on her lips when she says it.

When word comes that she died, the villagers closest to the forest became afraid. And they were right to be so.

The beasts ran unchecked, destroying buildings, killing cattle, the forest became dangerous again.

And always there was a deep heart broken howl coming from the very heart of the forest.


	117. Prompt 70

Prompt: "Please, let's go home." For Hikaru

Everyone knew that Hikaru loved her secondary country and the people of it. She couldn't hide her feelings to save her life, and there was no way to hide how everything about her seemed to light up and relax as soon as they were there.

It was a subtle thing, that only Fuu and Umi really saw, but it was there and it was always profound in their minds.

They were grateful for it, truly. Especially after what the year after put them through.

There were so many nights when they were finally able to be near or with each other, and she would always have a brave face. She'd talk about how excited she was for the future with them, and try to keep them from seeing how much the events of Cephiro had hurt her.

But if it was late enough, if she was tired beyond being able to fall asleep, if they were out under the stars at the dojo–so close to being back but so far, so far from what they'd done even if it was as close to them as closing their eyes–they would know how deeply her hurt ran.

"Please," she'd whisper, thinking that they were asleep on either side of her, "let's go home."

She always whispered it to the sky, as if Emeraude would hear her, as if the Mashin would feel her, as if something none of them understood but all of them felt would know and pull them back.

They all wanted to go back so badly, but it was as if Hikaru wanted to shoulder it all on her own.

After the second time back, after everything was said and done, everything about her seemed to get lighter.

She grabs their hands excitedly, pulling them along with her like always, "Let's go home."

And they finally could.


	118. Prompt 71

Prompt: "Every time we climb the stairs, something changes" for Fuu, Hikaru, and Umi

When Umi was very little, she was afraid of stairs.

"Each time we climb the stairs, something changes!" she'd say indignantly to her father who was just trying to get her to go to bed.

He'd smiled at her and swept her up into his arms and kissed her cheek, "Change isn't bad, darling; change makes life exciting."

She'd just laughed and let him carry her up the stairs.

That would continue until she was too old to be carried up the stairs, and then she had to push away her fear of change.

When she and her class went up what few steps there were to go up for the Tokyo Tower trip, that old feeling from when she was a child came back up. But she pushed it away–change made life exciting.

She just didn't think she needed that much excitement. Or that kind.

Years later, when they would get ready to address the people of their new nation, they had to climb more steps to the balcony where they would be presented. Hikaru and Fuu were both expressing their nerves in different ways–hand wringing, overtalking, bouncing–until finally Hikaru flopped next to Umi on the small couch that was in their waiting area.

"I hate stairs." Hikaru said, leaning her head against Umi's shoulder, "You climb them and everything changes."

Fuu sighed, "That's not how that–"

Umi wrapped her arm around Hikaru's shoulders and grinned, "Change isn't bad, babe; change makes life exciting."

Fuu laughed for the first time that day, and even Hikaru's grin finally seemed genuine, as Fuu said, "It certainly does."


	119. Prompt 72

Prompt: "A book infested with ghosts" for Fuu

Bookstore!AU: Fuu owns her own bookstore, everyone gets their own shop, that kind of thing.

Fuu loved many things about owning her own store.

She loved getting to set her own hours, she loved the freedom and power in being her own boss, hell she even loved doing inventory.

But among all those things, she loved that she decided to be a new and _used_ bookstore. She loved getting boxes of books from all sorts of different people–a young couple consolidating their library, a middle aged woman with boxes of books that were older than her, library workers who were told to get rid of old copies to make room for the new, giddy high school seniors ready to make changes–so many different people came through, toting boxes that were just lousy with old stories.

Stories that had meant something to them once that they couldn't take with them, stories from a time before them, old stories trapped next to new stories.

Sometimes she'd just sit in the old armchair that she'd had her sister's latest beau move in for her when she'd bought the store, and listen to the quiet.

When the cute boy from the bakery stopped by once–his sister makes the best pastries on the street and they'd long reached an agreement of sweets in exchange for books–he'd nervously whispered to her, "What are you listening to?"

And she'd just smiled and whispered back, "The ghosts."

He'd looked so horrified, she almost felt bad for laughing at him as he quickly walked out of her store.

That's what she called the old books and stories who'd gotten so much use, who'd been so infused into other people's lives–they all had ghosts. And she liked to think that if she sat long enough, if she listened carefully enough, she'd hear the voices of all those ghosts whispering to her and reliving their old stories.

There's one book in particular she just loves–"It's just infested," She'd grinned at Umi, an old college friend of hers, basically as soon as she'd gotten her hands on it.

It was an old book of poems from some author she'd never heard of, and every page had different handwriting on it.

"I thought of you."

"Mom used to say this."

"He would've loved this."

There were no names, just old handwriting, lost in all of time.

It was the one book she'd never sell, her own book of ghosts.

She likes to think that those ghosts are the only ones she hears.


	120. Prompt 73: Brother In The Morning Light

Prompt: "Small birds, dry grass" for Ferio

When Ferio was just learning about the world he was apart of, and before Emeraude had to leave, they would go for walks in the fields around their home. Their mother was constantly worried that they'd get lost or hurt, so they were never allowed to go on their own. And there was something going on with their parents too–something to do with her, something that made their mother look at her with a deep, terrible sadness in her eyes that Emeraude wouldn't understand until she was older.

One year, there hadn't been a lot of rain so the grass was tall and dry. She used to sleep with her window open to let the wind in, and the gentle rushing of the grass–something about it made her think that that was how the far off ocean must sound–would lull her slowly to sleep.

But they could never see what could be lurking in that same tall grass. Ferio never thought of those things though–the only thing he thought about at that age was getting into trouble–but she would always watch it wearily as they went. She'd watched the grass as they walked, holding his hand tightly to make sure he didn't go running off and trying to find a spot for them to sit and eat their lunch.

After a few minutes, she finally found a spot for them to sit and eat so she let go of his hand.

She only turned away for a minute but when she turned back, he was gone. She started looking around frantically for him, yelling, and ran into the grass. She noticed birds calling just to her right so she moved the grass away and found Ferio standing there, mimicking the birds who sang back to him.

"Ferio?" She tried to say quietly, but it was enough to scare the birds. They all took off at once, crying and singing, and Ferio watched them take off, clapping and grinning.

He turned to her, pointing to the birds as they flew, "Emmy see! Emmy see!"

And she'd grinned and laughed and had mimicked the birds as they flew away. Then they'd spent the better part of the afternoon running through the field, calling to each other like the birds around them.

Towards the end of her imprisonment in the water prison, much of her mind–much of what had made her her–was disintegrating. But that stayed the longest.

The sounds of small birds in dry grass taking flight.

A little boy's laughter.

Sunlight warming her hair.

Until there was only anger and darkness to remember.


	121. Prompt 74

Prompt: "The senesation of falling as experienced in a dream." For Emeraude

Emeraude didn't sleep often. And when she did, she had the same dream over and over again. Well. Maybe it wasn't that she wouldn't have the same dream, but all her dreams would end the same way–crashing back into her bed as if she were crashing back into her body.

She used to wonder if when she slept if she was traveling to other lives she was living outside of her own. She liked that idea when she was younger–she loved it when she imprisoned herself.

As she charged at the Knights, sword in her hand and murder on her mind and in her heart, she wondered what dying would be like. If it would be the same crashing feeling as when she'd wake from a dream, only without being allowed to wake up.

She didn't believe that she deserved to wake up.

She was right; in part.

After the pain, and resounding clarity that it granted her, came the darkness and the feeling of falling. She liked to believe she was prepared for it–at least in part–but nothing prepared her for what was to follow.

She woke up.

It was so sudden, she never expected to feel air in her lungs again–she felt disoriented, and fearful, she didn't know or recognize her surroundings, but she knew the person lying next to her.

She reached out a nervous hand to press against his chest–to make sure he was real, and to wake him–and when she saw those familiar blue eyes under those black bangs, she didn't try to stop herself from throwing herself into him.


	122. Prompt 75

Prompt: "A hero in the wrong" for Clef

After the guru had gathered what other mages and magic users that were left in the country to help to construct the castle, many people regarded him as a hero.

He wondered what those three girls from another world would think of him. They had trusted him to lead them on the right path, to make them heroes, and instead he'd turned them into killers.

He wondered what they'd say to him, if they'd hate him for leading them that way, for not telling them the whole truth about what the legend actually was–for everything.

So when he finally got the chance to see them again, to rightfully apologize for what he did, he was ready for anything from them.

But they just cried.

And told him it wasn't his fault.

Even Umi, the one he knew would be the most likely to let him have it, only apologized for how brash she'd been when they'd first arrived.

Finally, before too much time had passed, he finally got the chance to sit with them.

"I am not a hero." He said to them simply, noting how visibly they tensed at the word "hero." He knew that they were afraid that he would say that they were.

He knew not to do that.

He knew how much it would hurt them, not help them.

He held up a hand to try to stay their budding denials to what they expected him to say, and continued, "And I will not tell you that any of you are. But I will tell you, that I was wrong."

They all gave him the same confused expression–did they ever see how similar they were to each other?–how similar they were to her?

"I was wrong for thinking that you three would ever turn what happened to you against us. Or for being anything other than the three gracious, strong young women I should've trusted in her judgment."

They were sitting there, silently terrified of what else he was going to say. They didn't want is praise and he knew that. Probably better than anyone else, he knew how much they didn't want his praise.

Or for him to apologize again.

"So know, that through everything else, that I believe in you. Because Emeraude did. And if that means nothing else, it means that you are strong."

He chose to leave quickly after that, he couldn't stand to see their tears again.


	123. Prompt 76

Prompt pulled from a set of Summer Drabble prompts: "Tank top" for Fuu and Ferio

The first time Ferio sees one of the girls in one of them, it's on Hikaru during one of their training sessions. He thinks it's just something that people on earth wear when training, so he didn't think much of it.

The next time he sees one, Umi's wearing it with her hair up, complaining about the heat back home. He asks her why she's wearing a training shirt if she doesn't plan to train, she explains that it's just something that people can wear when it's hot–"It's just a shirt, Ferio. We don't necessarily have close just designed for training."

Ferio had nodded at that, before his mind started wondering to Fuu, and the idea of her in a tank top. She must've had the same thought, because the next time they came through, Fuu was wearing one of those tank tops. He knew it showed skin, but he wasn't really prepared for just how much.

She smiled at him as she kissed his cheek, "Careful, Prince, you might catch a fly if you don't pick your jaw off the floor."

He couldn't keep his eyes off her for the rest of the meeting.


	124. Prompt 77

Prompt pulled from a set of Summer Drabble prompts: "Sunscreen" for Fuu and Ferio

"Ferio you should really put some of this on," Fuu said insistently. She was still sitting under the ridiculously large umbrella on her beach towel. Hikaru and Umi had already been covered in the stuff from that pink bottle she had next to her. Hikaru and Umi had immediately run off into the ocean spray, leaving them in the shade.

Ferio fidgeted like child being held back by his mother from playing with his friends, "But Umi and Hikaru have already left!"

She rolled her eyes, "Well, yes but if you go with out sunscreen you'll get burned and–"

" _Fuu_ ," he whined at her.

She sighed, stashing the bottle back in her bag, "Fine! Fine, go play, just don't expect any sympathy from me when you're all sunburned and in pain."

He kissed her cheek, "You're beautiful."

"Yes, but that apparently has no bearing on my ability to influence my boyfriend towards wise decisions." She sighed as he ran off to tackle Hikaru into the next wave.

Several hours later, when they were headed home, Ferio made the mistake of complaining that the seatbelt was rubbing against his burn.

Fuu looked back at Umi in the rearview–she'd lost the coin toss for shotgun between her and Hikaru (Ferio wasn't in the running because of a "best friend rule" they'd made some time ago)–Umi grinned and immediately slapped him square on the chest, earning a a pained yelp from him and a mildly satisfied smile from Fuu.

She, of course, was more merciful when they were home, helping to put aloe vera on his chest and back, shushing him gently all the while.


	125. Prompt 78

Prompt: "Things You Said When You Thought I was Asleep" for Lantis/Hikaru/Eagle

Lantis was always the first one of the three of them to fall asleep at night. He always joked about how it was because they always drained his energy so that by the end of the day all he wanted to do was sleep.

He knew that eventually Eagle and Hikaru would let themselves be taken by their own exhaustion as well. But before then, he like to listen to them talk quietly above him, slowly letting their voices lull him to sleep.

"When I was younger," Eagle was saying quietly to her, their hands had found each other on Lantis's back and he could feel them entwining their fingers, "I never thought I'd find people who thought I was… _good_ , I guess."

There was a pause, he could feel Hikaru's hand moving slightly against his back as she rubbed Eagle's fingers. Eagle continued, "My father simply made me feel like I was 'good enough.' Not like I was _worth_ anything more."

Eagle shifted against Lantis's side for a moment, "And then Lantis showed up, all dark armor and broodiness, and without even trying he made me feel worthy of more than what my father was throwing at me."

Lantis smirked at that, and was grateful that the dark would keep his alertness secret still.

He could hear Eagle's smile in his tone as he said, "I never thought I'd be lucky enough to find another person who made me feel exactly like Lantis."

There was a shift at the small of Lantis's back, the weight of their conjoined hands being lifted as Hikaru kissed the back of Eagle's hand.

Quietly, Eagle added, "Don't ever tell him I said this."

Hikaru giggled, as Lantis finally fell completely into sleep.


	126. Prompt 79

Prompt: "Brontide: The low rumbling of distant thunder." For Clef

"Death comes in threes," Clef remembers his mother warning him once.

She never said that it would sound like thunder.

The first time Clef hears thunder (not that he knew what it was at the time), it is when he is alone–during the very specific time when he must be alone, when he must find the stone in the empty field.

It is so far away, so low, he mistook it for a beast in the woods–an not altogether impossible thing, just highly unlikely given that in his years of coming to the stone, he'd never encountered another living thing.

He realized, as Emeraude locked herself away in the water prison, that he should've taken it for what it had been–an omen.

The second time he hears it, it is when he is speaking to Lantis, discussing whether or not their home, their country is truly beautiful. He stared out at the landscape, a pit forming low and slow in his gut when he heard the same distant rumble has he had months before. The pit in his stomach seemed to know what it was, seemed to recognize it and called back to it, but Clef pushed it away again–they were near the Forest of Silence, he told himself, that's all.

They were not near the Forest of Silence.

As Zagato rises to power, as monsters start to appear everywhere, as Clef goes into hiding to wait for the arrival of Knights, he wishes he had known what thunder had meant.

The third time he hears it, he knows that Emeraude is gone. The thunder is preceded by lightning splitting the sky open and brings rain and wind. He feels the first chunk of Cephiro fall away. He feels part of his heart go with it and with her and with the three young women who didn't ask for this.

The thunder shakes the world and he screams back.


	127. Prompt 80

Prompt: "Quidnunc: One who always has to know what is going on." For Caldina

It's a bit of joke in the castle that when ever something in the castle happens, Caldina is there, already spinning tales about it, learning as much as she can to be the authority on it, just generally always being right in the middle of it.

She always seemed to know when Fuu and Ferio had snuck off to do something illicit, she seemed to know the moment it happened when Umi and Ascot kissed, hell she was there long before Lantis when Eagle first woke up.

She knows that it's a joke among many of the residents of the castle; often hearing "Careful, Caldina's liable to get involved" and it's variants when no one else knew she was there.

Caldina was very good at knowing when to be seen and when to be hidden, that's what had made her as good at her job as she'd been in Chizeta, Autozam, even a few other worlds that were further away. She learned very early on that no one pays attention to a dancer after her work is done.

And even when they were weary about her, she was an excellent hustler; and the things men will say when they think they're winning. When it was just her and Ascot traveling the country, she'd used her skills to keep them safe, to get them food, to get Ascot out of trouble—whatever it took to keep them safe. Only when Ascot had commented on her inability to stay out of other people's business, that she finally told her the motto that had kept her alive for so long.

It wasn't until Umi, in a bit of a huff one day, asked Ascot about the same thing that he ever repeated it.

"It's like Caldina is always in the thick of everyone else's business!" She'd huffed, falling onto the couch next to Ascot so her head fell in his lap, interrupting his reading, "Doesn't she know when to mind her own business?"

Ascot had just sort of shrugged, undeterred from his reading and sparing a hand to run his fingers through her hair, "It's just old habit; The more you know, the better you survive."

Umi had never thought about it that way.


	128. Prompt 81

Prompt: "Capernoited: Slightly intoxicated or tipsy." For Hikaru and Zazu

Zazu loves his wine.

A lot.

And he actually loves to share it. All someone has to do is ask.

And trade a pastry for a glass of it.

Hikaru knew this, but also had Umi as her best friend so she had a lot of pastries to trade for those glasses of wine.

They could usually tell when Hikaru and Zazu were going to start drinking because Hikaru would have an entire basket of pastries that she'd make sure no one would touch, and then once Zazu showed up she got giddy and giggling which he immediately reciprocated—they weren't allowed to sit near each other during the meetings.

They disappeared as soon as the meeting was done, and didn't resurface until they were singing Autozamian drinking songs that Zazu had taught her.

Umi heard them before she saw them. She sighed as Geo looked around across from her at the table, "Zazu got new wine, right?"

Geo nodded for a moment, not quite getting it until he did, and he sighed as well, "Yes. Yes he did."

Umi flipped the page of her book exaggeratedly, "I'm not herding them back to the castle if they get out again."

"But I did it last time!" Geo exclaimed.

They looked at each other for a moment before nodding together, "Ascot."

Ascot sighed, "I am _right_ here."

Umi clapped him on the back as Hikaru and Zazu's singing got louder, "And you're on drunk duty."

He glared at her as he stood. As he did, there was a loud crash, a pause, followed by Zazu and Hikaru laughing. He sighed, calling over his shoulder to her and Geo, "You owe me."

"You're cute!" She yelled after him.

"That I am." He called back as there was another crash and laughter.


	129. Prompt 82

Prompt: "Okay, the blood isn't mine, calm down" for Umi/Clef

He knew the girls were just going on a normal monster hunt–there were only a few monsters still around after the Pillar system had been abolished and the country had been turned over to the people.

He knew that they were well trained knights and that they were smart and careful. They were the best.

But still, he worried.

Presea tried to distract him from his worry with paper work, but she worried as well.

And neither of them calmed down until the girls came home again.

And even then they were often covered in blood when they came home.

Clef usually kept his fussing over them–over Umi in particular–until they were alone.

But not today.

Umi walked in, all smiles and jokes, but covered in blood and it was hard to tell _who's_ blood it was.

Clef didn't say anything, but Umi could see his panic as clear as if he'd started physically checking her over.

She smirked at Clef and rolled her eyes at him, "It's not _my_ blood, Clef. Calm down."

He glared at her, "I _am_ calm."

She laughed, and kissed his cheek, "Of course you are."


	130. Prompt 83

Prompt: "Did you just fucking blue shell me?!" for Fuu, Ferio, and Umi

Fuu isn't allowed to play Mariokart anymore.

She takes it way to seriously and, well, the Wii remotes can't take the strain of being imbedded in the drywall.

Again.

Instead, she's been regaled to working on her needlepoint in her armchair while Umi and Ferio play.

(The needlepoint is the phrase "I'm sorry for the things I said in Mariokart." That was her agreed upon punishment for the third Wiimote she smashed.)

Umi and Ferio sat on the floor in front of the television as she worked, jokingly elbowing each other as they played.

Umi smacked Ferio lightly in the face, jeering, "Oh what're you gonna do? Can't see; what're you gonna do?"

"Gonna beat you blindfolded, that's what I'mma do!" Ferio laughed back.

Umi laughed back and was about to deliver another joke, only for a loud explosion on the television to stop her midquip.

"Did you just fucking blue shell me?!" Umi yelled at him.

Ferio was already on his feet and running away from her.

"Get your ass back here, you green haired fuck!" Umi yelled, chasing after him.

"I am not fielding questions from the police again!" Fuu yelled after them, as they chased each other around the apartment, screaming obscenities at each other.

"Fine–Just visit me in prison for killing this son of a bitch!" Umi yelled as she skidded around the couch, only to cause Ferio to crash into a wall.


	131. Prompt 84: Please Don't Say You Love Me

Prompt: "Mamihlapinatapei: The look between two people in which each loves the other but is too afraid to make the first move." For Emeraude

Clef had known long before either of them did.

But Clef often knew before anyone else did. Part of him wished he never knew, that his deep repression of what he knew to be true wasn't.

 _Things can just_ be, he used to think, _why can't they just_ not _?_

But it was true, just as surely as Emeraude and Zagato's obvious love for each other just _was_.

Clef wondered how they didn't know at first; Zagato's increased concern about the state of the Pillar, Emeraude's frequent requests for Zagato to do certain tasks for her, the way they looked at each other.

Gods the way they _looked_ at each other.

But they never said anything to anyone, and certainly not to each other.

Not that they needed to, Clef had mused, it was in everything they did.

Just like Emeraude's guilt had been in everything she'd done towards the end.

Clef remembered once, he'd been walking the gardens alone, just thinking, or going somewhere, he couldn't really remember the why, he just knew that he was.

And he'd come across one of the fountains that the gardens had and he saw them looking into the water.

He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he could see them smiling at each other, he could see Emeraude giggling at something, he could see them both positively glowing next to each other. They were looking at each other so intently, so full to the brim with love…

He remembered he'd been happy to see them so delighted with each other, and then Emeraude had touched Zagato's hand.

They were both still happy and smiling at each other, but there had been a shift, a darkness had eclipsed what had been bright before. Zagato carefully moved his hands behind his back, Emeraude laced her fingers in front of her, and both of them stared back at the water.

Quiet.

Broken.

Still reaching for each other but being so careful not to ever actually touch.

He'd left then, or turned away, he can't be sure, but he knows the memory ends there. He continued to pretend not to know anything, not to have seen anything, the world kept turning, Cephiro stayed in eternal spring.

And the two dearest people in his life were quietly dying from what wasn't being said about what clearly, simply, inopportunely, _was._


	132. Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animals

What became known as the "Snowball Fight!AU"; posted on tumblr just in time for Christmas.

It wasn't supposed to snow until New Year's, and no one was more distraught about it than the group in the large loft style apartment at the top floor of the building. Fuu didn't mind as much as just about everyone else in her party, but she was thinking "practically"–a flaw of hers, according to Umi and Ferio.

So on Christmas Eve, when it started snowing at noon, she was sure it wouldn't last. Until it got to be Christmas morning, and they looked out the windows to see an impressive blanket of the fluffy stuff covering everything. She barely had a chance to convince Hikaru to actually bundle up in a coat and hate and all the other cold weather essentials before she was out the door, with Ferio, Eagle, and Ascot in tow.

Umi smirked at her over the rim of her coffee mug at Fuu as she stood by the front door, still out of breath from Hikaru's little whirlwind. Umi pulled her leg up to her chest on the stool at the island in the kitchen, "A for effort, there, Fuu."

"They are just all…" Fuu said exasperatedly, grasping blankly at the air in front of her, "They're just…so… _much._ "

Umi giggled into her mug, "No, _she's_ so much. _They_ just get caught up in it."

Fuu sunk heavily on to the stool across from Umi, "It's going to be a long day."

Umi sympathetically patted her head as she stood, "Yes it is. Lantis is about done in the shower and we've got a dinner to get prepared."

Fuu buried her head in her arms and groaned, prompting Umi to laugh the rest of the way towards the bathroom.

They worked most of the morning and into the afternoon, thankfully Clef and Persea came around noon and that helped to wrap up the last of the mean.

Clef was slightly confused by all the cards that were on their mantle. Fuu noticed him staring and sighed, "Ascot and Eagle got loose in the mall for a couple of hours and when we found them again they were just leaving a Hallmark."

Clef nodded knowingly as Persea asked in deep concern, "Were they okay?"

"Eagle was convinced he could call his dad and fix their relationship." Umi sighed.

They all grimaced.

Once the meal was finished and with the table set, Fuu surveyed it again briefly and grinned at Lantis, "I think we're ready, why don't you head out and gather them up?"

Lantis nodded, grabbing his own coat and hat, and headed out to wrangle in "the kids."

After about half an hour, Umi decided to go and see what the problem was.

An hour after that, Fuu grabbed her own hat and coat and went to pull her family back inside and eat her Christmas dinner.

Clef and Persea stayed in her living room, quietly drinking her wine, and happy to not be invloved.

When she walked out onto the street, she walked out into a war zone. To her right was, "Fort Kickass" where she could see green hair peaking out from behind it and to her left was "Fort Jungle" where pink hair and a large hat were moving around.

Fuu, for just a moment, was confused, when she heard Umi, Ferio, and Eagle all yelled at once while hurling snowballs, "Eat death!"

At the same time, Hikaru, Ascot, and Lantis all stood just shrieking incoherently, also hurling snowballs. Both sides had casualties, and so did surrounding buildings, cars, and a few civilians as well. That was the last straw for Fuu, who started yelling, "You all stop it this instant!"

She even, foolishly, took a step out into the No Man's Land, as she continued, "We've been out here too long! You–"

"Incoming!"

There would be a great deal of debate about who it was that threw the snowball, and who saw it coming and tried to warn her, but all sides could agree that what happened next would haunt them for years.

A snowball landed squarely in Fuu's face, and after the initial impact, there was nothing but dead silence. Everyone stopped what they were doing, some even stopped breathing, as they watched the snow slowly fall from Fuu's face on to her coat and finally to the ground.

There was a shift in the air and Fuu slowly wiped the remaining snow from her face. Then, very quietly, though somehow everyone heard, she said, "Oh now you've done it."

After that, everyone could only agree that the true winner of the day was Fuu.

After Fuu had unleashed some truly outstanding one-woman fury, everyone followed after her into the apartment, heads bowed in defeat and properly contrite. They took their seats, with Fuu at the head. Presea poured her a glass of wine and she held it high, toasting her friends, and cracked her first smile since she'd gone outside, "Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals."

And finally everyone laughed again. Everyone smiled, and talked, and remembered why they wanted to be there.

And the dinner was delicious.


End file.
